Samedi

US Army Corps admits it can't stop floods in New Orleans
~Paul Brown~Lt. General Robert Van Antwerp, Chief of the US Army Corps of Engineers would not answer my question "Should New Orleans be abandoned?"
But the General, whose job it is to protect New Orleans from future hurricanes, did admit he could not save the city from storm surges. "Protect the city no, reduce the risk yes. We can develop better early warning systems, better evacuation plans, better levees to hold back most of the water but we cannot stop levees being overtopped and the city flooded."
~Editilla calls an Ignorant Twerp, Antwerp~
Again it seems it seems the Corps here is setting us up for the let-down. {Protect the city no, reduce the risk yes.}
WTF does that Mean? Isn't that a contradiction? Simple Question:
How to simultaneously Reduce Risk by Not Protecting the City?
We just know that with each News Cycle lately, the Corps seems to be begging-off future responsibility for maintaining their current work. Well, we beg to know then: What the Fuck is the Corps of Engineers Good For If They Can't Do Their Job?
This man who is Now Shirking His Duty is basically telling any future investment to give up on New Orleans. He is telling the Citizens of New Orleans to Give Up on their Future.
This Bad Commander is telling us to Kiss Our Ass Goodbye!
Place head between legs...Kiss Ass Goodbye!
Aren't we getting tired of Commanders who come out in public to Contradict the Commander in Chief? What this Fey Coward Yellow Turncoat Press'Ho Antwerp is saying here is NOT what the President said in his brief Tinkle-stop Tour of New Orleans.
This mannequin is surrendering in the face of his mission and his country and frankly I am ashamed. Most of what the Corps does leaves me angry, but this leaves me ashamed and somewhat worried about the testicular fortitude of our Military Leaders.
This scoundrel needs to be stripped of every button on his uniform. We don't need Commanders with such weak knees.

Delaying safe pump stations for New Orleans is not an option: an editorial, by the Times-Picayune --who gave the Corps Free Pass!
~Editilla snaps a fuse into a million watt anus~
Is This the kind of after-market alligator tears you show the public --after you have taken so much Advertising Money from the very Cause of our Increased Risks? Remember how we had to drag the Times-Picayune kicking and screaming into this story?
They have effectively Not Covered this problem the entire time, instead soft-balling any inference that the Corps was behaving illegitimately, always --ALWAYS-- giving the Corps the benefit of the doubt and their worst, corps-biased reporter: Grrrissette.
This "news" outlet has proven itself incapable of handling the Corps. We need to point out to the Times-Picayune that to have been used as flood wall filler by the Corps of Engineers was not a compliment. Just as now: to be used as the official Mouth Piece for the Corps to pull the wool over the City's eyes is rat'fink, unconscionable. The Times-Picayune has failed to protect us. Why cry about it now?


~Special thanks~Alex Woodward, Gambit

In Morerro, the Corps finally puts Band-Aid on Still Failing Levee~The 1,600-foot earthen levee, which runs south from the Old Estelle Pump Station, has failed twice, once in the early 1990s and again in 2007 when two sections totaling 600 feet long slumped badly. Prodded by the levee board, the corps has agreed to use costly geotextile fabric to stabilize known trouble spots before raising the levee from 10 feet to 14.5 feet to guard against a 100-year storm, which has a 1 percent chance of occurring each year. As part of the agreement, the corps will cover the costs of repairing any failures for five years after the levee has been raised, Morgan said.
~Editilla's Incumbent Recombinant Compostinal~
~Again, what we have heyaaaah... is a Fail'yaaaa... to...
Do It Right The First Time? The Corps has established a Pattern here (Post Flood) of Doing It Wrong the 2nd Time, and shoveling it down our throats with project delays until we are forced by Nature to Go Their Way Or The Flood Way.
What am I missing here? At gun-point across this Flood Control System In Name Only we allow the Corps to Do It Their Way. Then, later, when It Breaks We Own It. Has anyone else noticed that the Corps of Engineers offers No Warranty No Return?

Marketing plan being developed to help Delcambre shrimpers by spring~Richard Burgess
~A major initiative to revitalize the Port of Delcambre is already beginning after voters approved a property tax one week ago that will generate about $300,000 a year for the Twin Parish Port District, officials said Friday.

A Saturday Happy for the Slabbed Nation

Mixed opinions on having flights to Cuba from New Orleans
~Susan Edwards

Test flights to begin
~Photo by Northrop Grumman
The Fire Scout, an unmanned aerial vehicle which will be used by the Navy reconnaissance missions, is assembled at the Northrop Grumman facility in Moss Point and will now be tested at Trent Lott International Airport.

Giving God a Hard Time
~Jojo Soira de Veyra
~In the immediate aftermath of the flash flood wrought by typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana), Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando had the media-perceived gumption to pin the blame on everyone, including himself.
His take was leveled against himself, first for failing to convince developers and informal settlers (squatters) to get out of the waterways and relocate in what he deems a necessary move for his department's flood control mission to work. Unwittingly, he had backhandedly leveled the blame primarily on these very developers (who had acquired permits from government to build real estate subdivisions on wetlands).

Mountaintop Removal Begins on Coal River Mountain
-- Help Needed Now
~Matt Wasson

“The name—of it—is ‘Autumn’”
~Robert Frost's Banjo

Larose French Food Fest is off to a good start~Perry Pitre

Marsalis: Racism and greed put blues at the back of the bus

Vendredi~Boo'Dat???

Corps of Engineers snubs local MS flood protection board
~Northside Sun~THE U.S. ARMY Corps of Engineers is apparently responsible to no one when it comes to spending taxpayer dollars and getting nothing for it.
After wasting six years and $2.8 million to study the Two Lakes Flood Control and Economic Development Plan, a proposal that would nearly end flooding in downtown Jackson and generate millions of dollars in new economic development for the metro area, leaders with the federal regulatory agency recently admitted that they never actually studied it.
And now, if misspending nearly $3 million in local and federal funds wasn’t enough, leaders with the corps’ Vicksburg District are telling the Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District (levee board) that they’ll have to shell out another $4 million to have Two Lakes and other flood control plans studied. Let’s think about that. The corps didn’t do its job in the first place, and now it has the gall to demand more money? That doesn’t sound right.

Fargo-Moorhead grapples with prospect of $1 billion flood diversion plans~Dan Gunderson



MR-GO, The End of an Error?
~Robert Gramling

Lolis Eric Elie drinks Corps Red
Cool Aid: says Katrina Did It!
~Editilla Cool Hand Loops~ What we have heyah is a fail'ya ta'comoonicate and we're not going to take it any more.
No More Katrina Shorthand. It's the Levees, Stupid.
Sorry, journalists are no longer allowed to write an entire article about the future of New Orleans without stating how we got to this point post 8/29/05, to wit: Man Made Disaster.
If they do continue this Lie, then they will hear from Editilla, and we will post them on this Ladder so our Gentle'rilla readers will see them and beware this Idiot Wind. Man Made-vs-Natural Disaster is a difference that makes a difference.
While this journalists is busy misstating the cause of our city's devastation, and omitting any references to the actual crime, the culprits are being allowed to operate with seeming impunity and no checks by the local media...ASCECORPS, grrrrr.
Reminds Editilla of growing up in Mississippi in the laid-back 60s.
Now, we live in a Post Agrarian South, right? HA! BOO'DAT!
The point here is that Katrina hit Mississippi, the Corps hit New Orleans. We do not live, in reality, in "Post Katrina", but in "Post Federal Flood of '05", Post Corps Flood, Post National Disaster, Post Civil Engineering Failure. We like Post Federal Flood PFF.
We don't understand how Mr. Elie can do this lazy Katrina Shorthand journalism in the above article, reporting on Future Planing, and yet show us his contextual acumen in the following article, of survival --despite fixating on the term "Post-Katrina".
And for what it's worth, Editilla really really likes L.E. Elie.

N.O. man on a mission to save city's oak trees~Lolis E Elie

The Long and Short of Long-Form Journalism
~Mark Reynolds

Public Letter To Louisiana Senator Vitter Over Bardwell Incident ~Stephen Sabludowsky

Judge clears the way for VA lawsuit

FDA Proposes Raw Oyster Ban

Coastal Consortium formed, Louisiana universities partner to facilitate coastal research ~Hullabaloo

Stirring da'Pot
~Cody Daigle
~The Blackpot Festival and Cook-off, which first made its appearance on the festival scene in 2006, has charted a quick ascendance among local festivalgoers.

Combining a killer lineup of local and national roots, Cajun and Zydeco music acts with a cookoff that celebrates traditional black pot food preparation, the festival has carved a unique niche for itself in festival culture.

Please welcome Sydney’s First Lady of Noir Soul – Donné
~Toby Smith

James Booker – Gonzo
~Funky 16 Corners

When a child star grows up
~Nancy Dunham

Anders Osborne spikes his new songs with his latest struggles
~Kieth Spera

Jeudi

Levees.org New Bumper Sticker!
~~Jus'One Dolla~Make You Holla!~Available Wherever Particular People Congrooviate~~

Financing for New Orleans locks excluded from federal budget
~Bruce Alpert


Special Thanks to da'NOLAFemmes!

Corps of Engineers Plays Chicken, State Blinks, Bad Flood Walls Will Stay in New Orleans

Corps re-starts work on three outfall canals, says it's
Their Way or the Flood Way,
State Assumes Position
~Despite vowing not to let the Army Corps of Engineers begin permanent hurricane protection work on the city's three outfall canals, the state is giving them the green light.
Despite their vow not to allow any work until the best flood protection plan was guaranteed, construction is beginning on the cheaper, faster, badly designed, poorly implemented Option.

Silted In~Fix the Pumps

Corps Offers Sham'Wow on Eve of MR-GO Ruling, Options Scam
In an effort to divert Public Attention away from their latest Pump House Gang Bang of New Orleans at the Outfall Canals, Corps OPP PR (COPPPR) has a humming dinger of an offer for the American Public: 1 UnFinished Surge Wall, Minus working Gates, nearly 1 Year Behind Schedule and also, If yer'real sweet, the Corps will throw in, get this, NO WARRANTY! That's right folks! If It Breaks You Own It! The biggest big thing every built big in the, well, whole big world! BIGBIGBIG!!! That's your ASCECORPS: BIG THEM! When they finally finish, that is.
Watch as Project Hope'A'Dope Director, Mxz Karen "Bull" Durham-Aguillera, say on TeeVee, with predatory gesticulation and a barracuda grin, "This project is bigger than Dope!"

MS Levee board challenging Corps’ decision to avoid plan
~If the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has its way, the Two Lakes Flood Control and Economic Development Plan will be dead in the water. However, local officials say the corps doesn’t have the authority to kill the plan, and are challenging the federal agency’s decision to refuse to study the proposal that supporters say would curb flooding along the river and generate millions, if not billions, of dollars in economic development for the capital city.
At its meeting on October 12, the Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District (levee board) voted 7-0 to ask the corps to agree to a previous resolution to study the plan, as well as all other viable options for flood control on the river between Hinds and Rankin counties.

Honore calls for preparedness
~Ft. Leavenworth Lamp

Computer model predicts hurricane power outages

Euthanasia story prompts libel suit from Memorial doctor
~Laura Maggi

This Friday: Support Lower Mid-City residents in Civil District Court
~Save Charity Hospital

Best Pics Ever! Floating House From Brad Pitt~Just Cool Pics

La. falls short in energy efficiency~Michelle Millhollon

End of the Carpetbagger era?
~Library Chronicles
~Find more excellent Cartoons by Barry here!

New CenLa website: everythingcenla. com
~we saw that

Moooving right along Slabbed Profiles Beef Plant Prosecution Aftermath: Cheryl Moultrie Speaks Out

Food writers focus on influences of New Orleans cuisine

LadyFest returns to New Orleans

The joy of writing on the wing ~Linda Borg

A drink to wake the dead

Sonny Landreth From the Reach
~John Metzger

Stop the Music...and the Torture ~Harry Shearer

WWOZ Voodoo VIP Passes

Mercredi

Shame: Louisiana US Senator David Vitter Speaks Out On Bardwell Affair
~ Stephen Sabludowsky, BBuzz
~I am now very afraid of David Vitter. I am also very ashamed.
I have publically wondered why the Democrats, the GOP, David Vitter and Charlie US Senate hopeful—Congressman Charlie Melancon had not given a statement concerning the very controversial and embarrassing Justice Bardwell incident.
The Democrats and Melancon have since made comments denouncing the actions of the Louisiana Justice of the Peace.
Today, for really the first time ever, I am serious beginning to question whether David Vitter is not a completely racially insensitive and not playing to the most unfortunate element of our state’s population for the purpose of being re-elected.
More than that, I am now wondering if I want to be in the same state as a US Senator named David Vitter.

~Thanks Wonkette! ~More from the Daily Kingfish.

Court rules Charity Hospital closure suit belongs in Baton Rouge~Bill Barrow

Court sends Charity Hospital lawsuit to EBR~Marsha Shuler

LSU's Cerise: "We're going to have to step back"
~Save Charity Hospital

Obama's New Katrina Recovery Bucks Less Than One Week's Worth of War in Afghanistan
~Patrick Martin~Last week's drive-by to New Orleans showed President Obama at his public relations worst, inviting comparisons to his predecessor in the White House. Obama lectured and insulted critics, compared concerned citizens of the ravaged city to “special interests,” and pleaded Constitutional impediments to delivering more federal aid.
It's hard to argue that electing a black president made much difference to the present and former black residents of the Gulf.

Jindal's kiss of death: James Gill

New Orleans Mayor in Cuba;
Too Absolutely Unreal for commentary~Humberto Fontova

New Orleans needs work
~Buffalo News

New Orleans Under Construction
~David Winkler-Schmit

Should New Orleans Retreat Inland? Let's ask the Big Man in Da'Sky! ~When religious leaders, scientists and environmental campaigners from across the world meet to discuss something as controversial as the future of the Miss River, its delta and the city of New Orleans there are bound to be some cross words. (Editilla sees no pun intended of course)
Ahead of the conference about 50 delegates from Europe and Asia arrived in Memphis on Saturday with the task of educating and updating themselves about the Mississippi River.
First on the agenda was a multi-faith service at the Annunciation Christian Orthodox Church led by Metropolitan Nicholas, the Orthodox Bishop of Detroit. It was held at the Orthodox church because the delegates were there at the invitation of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, leader of an estimated 300 million Orthodox Christians around the world.
When he opens opens the symposium on a riverboat in New Orleans on Wednesday the five days of ethical and scientific debate can begin. ~Nola.com story here.

Leading Political Consultants to Gather in New Orleans for Bipartisan Policy Center's Inaugural Summit

Barb Johnson rebuilds her Mid-City neighborhood in stories
~Susan Larson~For 20 years Barb Johnson was a carpenter. It's a lovely thing to sit across a table from a woman who's been building and rebuilding her adopted hometown, recycling architectural pieces from one house to another and leaving little notes in the walls, signs that she's been there, done that work. It's nice to think of the spirit of building, little bits of writing being spread all over the place, to be discovered in a wall or a baseboard, like some time capsule for the future.
~Noah Bonaparte Pais another angle at Gambit

High Mississippi River floods Gretna batture stage
~Dennis Persica

Undoing Damage to a Disappearing Delta
~David Bois

Costs Mounting for MS Levees, Lake Plans~Adam Lynch

Fargo flood plan meeting packed
~Helmut Schmidt
Joann Lawrence of south Fargo said she wants to see a diversion, and not the economy size, either.
“Do it right the first time,” she said. “Go big.”
Mary Nelson lives in Sunrise Acres north of West Fargo. “What I’d like to hear is that the diversion is the way to go,” Nelson said. She said flooding in her area this spring meant six weeks of no mail, no garbage pickup, and walking through water in hip waders. “I would like to have the whole area protected, north, south, east, west. Whatever it costs,” Nelson said.

Frida Kahlo's Pan de Muerto
~Serious Eats

All Saints Soiree Fundraiser, on the grounds of Historic Metairie Cemetery
~Save Our Cemeteries

Have you seen the new sculpture in City Park?~Doug MacCash

Bingo! Parlour Profile #13: DOWN

Preservation Hall meets Mickey Mouse?~Will Coviello, Gambit

Mardi

Clancy DuBos – Two potential candidates finally make a mayor's race~The biggest challenge for both
(Troy) Henry and (Leslie) Jacobs will be the Nagin Factor.

Panel: Gulf, Mississippi River interdependent~Amy Wold
The health of the Gulf of Mexico depends on, and is interdependent with, the health and management of the Mississippi River Delta and coastal Louisiana, speakers told the federal Ocean Policy Task Force


Diverting Sediment -rich Water Below New Orleans Could Lead to Extensive New Land
~National Science Foundation

Obama officials hear of crisis in coastal La.~Cain Burdeau
~"It's not just a wetland, it's not just a swamp. People live out there," said Tracy Kuhns with Louisiana Bayoukeeper, an advocacy group based in Barataria, La.
"When you lose all that, you lose our culture."

Why Global Warming Activists HATE The Idea Of A Geo-Engineering Solution
~Joe Weisenthal

Firing by interim inspector general improper, auditor declares in appeal
~Frank Donze

When prejudice wears the mask of reason: Jarvis DeBerry

Tolerating Intolerance in the Land of David Duke?
~Stephen Sabludowsky
~It’s true that interracial relationships don’t last. Usually the White woman winds up viciously battered looking like Rihanna, after Chris Brown got through with her. Every few weeks another OJ-style story leaks into the press about a White woman getting murdered by a black who got a little too jealous or crazy. Unfortunately, the Jewish media doesn’t focus on these stories.” ~Nazi Pig'Fink David Duke
~Sabludowsky: In a very cynical and despicable way, at least his web site made a statement about the issue.
Our fearless political leaders, namely the Louisiana Republicans, Democrats, candidates Melancon and Vitter have remained dormant as a mouse. This shows what type of meek leadership we might be able to expect from our state parties and from our US Senate candidates. When an issue rocks the world there is not a squeak from our own political representatives.
Call me suspicious, but, when it comes down to the nitty gritty, policy for these guys appear to be all about winning and not offending the voters, who could very well be former Duke voters in this very backwards state. And the hardened tolerance keeps tolerating, yet, these political leaders urge us to give them our money for their political causes? Hopefully, this incident shows that for them principal has taken a back seat to expediency.
If this absence of outrage is the sign of Louisiana leadership, perhaps we should just face it. Racism is live in Louisiana and is embedded in the institutions of our political advocacy.

Louisiana, Jindal Flying High With Obama Visit
~John Maginnis

Louisiana College’s Litmus Test for Professors ~CenLamar

Next round of FEMA trailer auctions to end Friday

Percy Miller teams with HUD secretary to reopen B.W. Cooper after Corps Flood

LEED certification can now be revoked by U.S. Green Building Council~Dani Grigg Dolan

Brad Pitt's New Orleans recovery creates world's 'biggest green community' ~Sam Bond

Green Lantern's New Home is New Orleans

Lost City:
New Orleans Edition: Antoine's Descends

CNN Gulf Coast Ribs at Katie's

The majesty of Fred Anderson's saxophone ~Howard Reich

Acclaimed piano and cello virtuosos perform original works at Loyola

Lundi

Rick weakens; Lupit headed to the Philippines; Western Caribbean brewing a storm?
~Jeff Masters
Hurricane Rick just after peak intensity at 17:55 UTC October 18.
At this time, Rick was a Category 5 hurricane with 175 mph winds. Image credit: NASA.

Mid-City VA site residents say Nagin snubbed city law
~Richard A. Webster

The Sun Herald Takes Obama’s “Tinkle-Stop Tour” to Task ~slabbed

Brad's Blog: A presidential snub

Jo-Ellen Darcy, new Boss of our Corps of Engineers
~The country's new Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, has her work cut out for her.
Named to the post by President Barack Obama and sworn in Oct. 2, the Fitchburg, MA native and daughter of a Fitchburg police detective has moved into her Pentagon office, where she will oversee the vast public works operations of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
~Editilla Co'tellas~ Now that the President has blown our socks off with his first Official Hand Job (please fang back though posts, we wo'out:), now that His O'ner has come and gone, literally in our faces, we can turn our attention to his pick to command the rouge military outfit known as the Exquisite Corps of Engineers.
Let us welcome Ms Darcy to The Thunder Dome

Given His Oner's publicly stated absolute ignorance of the causes of New Orleans flooding in 2005, of where Hurricane Katrina Actually struck and where Louisiana's Coastline exists or not, we are struck with this "Idea of Obama" and how that might translate into Actual Engineering Reform here on the ground in the New Orleans District of the very rouge military outfit who destroyed our City on 8/29/05 and killed 1000s of US Citizens on US soil.

What is the Idea of Obama in appointing this woman, who frankly seems to have very little experience with the political side of ASCECORPS, let alone an understanding of their cross-district public relations lobby machinery? She does have good experience with Water Issues, but can she stand in a room full of Men in Uniform (and that includes Project Hope'A'Dope director Karen Durham-Aguillera) and actually Take Command. I would ask this question of ASCECORPS Water Industry Titan Gerald Galloway, had he actually succeeded in his considerable efforts at back- room academic/PR gimplomacy to usurp this important office.
If anyone wants to try Editilla on charges of sexism in my concerns, then of Ms Darcy I would ask: DO YOU HAVE THE OVA TO MAKE CHANGES IN THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS?

Civil Engineering Reform, that is what I'm talking about here.
We need to get our country back to doing real civil engineering to repair our obviously crumbling infrastructure. For example, for His Oner to say that Katrina wiped out New Orleans is like saying traffic wiped out the Minneapolis bridge. Both revealed structural flaws. Both exposed blatant civil engineering mistakes.
Civil Engineering is not Social Engineering, since in CE, a Thing Built is either True or it Fails --as we all witnessed on 8/29/05.
We need to know that Ms Darcy knows about what happened to New Orleans that Infamous Day, not her Idea of Obama as he has No Idea what happened. He said Katrina did it.
We do not need to hear Katrina Shorthand from this woman who is now in charge of our situation. It was such a Deal Breaker to hear it come from the Commander in Chief (in name only) of the Corps of Engineers (in name only).

We need Ms Darcy to get on the Bad Inoperable Pumps (BIPs) and how the Corps forced their instalation on our outfall canals.
She needs to intervene Now in this Extortion the Corps is perpetrating on the City by holding up projects to break the City/State to accept their technically deficient Bad Option 1 Plan over Option 2/2a. She must STOP the Corps' threatening us so.
She must to stop the Corps from shifting millions of dollars between Flood Control Projects down here.
Ms Darcy needs to fire Optimal Process Partners.
These are some of my own top picks of Things To Do Right Now: end the Corps' borderline criminal activities.
It is also important that Ms Darcy face down the Corps more Subliminal activities and apparent conflicts of interests,
like over 700 counts of using government computers to infiltrate and manipulate the public comments discourse on getting the True Katrina Story Straight in our local media, in violation of the Federal Code.
We also really need to get the Corps out of the Wetlands Restoration Business because, again, they are major culprits in that failure as well, due to their wrong engineering in the Atchafalaya Basin, the upper Mississippi River and, oh yes, the soon-to-be Judge Duvall Rendered Sacred Cow: MR-GO.
This is not about Yes Levees/No Levees, Good Corps/Bad Corps.
It is a question of Civil Engineering or NOT.
Gentle'rillas, this isn't just about Reforming the Corps to protect New Orleans or Louisiana or our wetlands, but about Corps failure across the entire nation. Over half of the nation lives in counties with levees. The US Army Corps of Engineers is Not the End All Be All, and ,arguably, not Authoritatively Qualified for the tasks we have before us, to wit: Survival. In the harsh light of what we all witnessed on 8/29/05, this country must demand a better return on our investment. No more 2nd chances, only 2nd Lines.

A missed opportunity in New Orleans~Opelousas Daily World

Bar owners sweating status following state crackdown
~Richard A. Webster

CBD projects to benefit pedestrians, cyclists
~Coleman Warner

Meat Head~Serious Eats

New orleans Photo Alliance Call for Entries: The American Dream ~Nymphoto

Nola Jazz, funk singer, writer Leigh Harris finds home and new life in N.C. ~Michael Hewlett

'Devil at the Confluence'
~Terry Perkins

Benefits as unique musical events~Jeff Albert

Dimanche

Super Hurricane Rick the 2nd strongest hurricane ever recorded in Eastern Pacific
~Wunder Blog
~Hurricane Rick intensified in dramatic fashion yesterday into the second most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the Eastern Pacific. Truly deserving of the title "Super Hurricane", Rick grew into a monstrous Category 5 storm with 180 mph winds and a central pressure of 906 mb early this morning.

6 Steps to Save New Orleans
~Brentin Mock, The Root
~President Obama's visit to New Orleans Thursday was 47 days late and a few hundred million dollars short. His presence was expected on Aug. 29, 2009, the fourth anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravishing the Gulf Coast with wind and floods. The people of New Orleans and the greater Gulf Coast needed only to see and hear from their president that real change was coming and their lives would soon be improving. His town hall speech at the University of New Orleans was disappointing. He spoke vaguely about broad issues, before quickly being whisked off to a fundraiser in San Francisco. It was as if he was speed-dating, and New Orleans got swiftly "next'd."

Here's to the "Idea of Obama" ...we coulda'been contendas!


Fie, Fatal Flaw!~Maureen Dowd
~The White House Web site that went up during President Obama’s first week in office bragged about the four trips that Senator Obama made to the Gulf region after Katrina, promising to “keep the broken promises made by President Bush to rebuild New Orleans.” He may be doing a better job than Brownie’s boss, but Obama didn’t make his first visit to New Orleans until Thursday. He stayed just a few hours before jetting off to a fund-raiser in San Francisco.

Justice system failings in wake of the Corps' Flood of 2005 left wounds that remain unhealed
~Brendan McCarthy

How immigration debate affects Census~James Gill

Congressional energy bills could have impact on Louisiana
~Jeremy Alford

Homeowners with Chinese drywall have been rebuffed by insurers, but hope may not be lost~Rebecca Mowbray

Recuse in the Scruggs news ~Nowducit, slabbed

Human side of Katrina recovery still needs work~Anita Chandra

Chily Sunday, there's a rep for that too! ~Citizen K

Documentary explores La.'s Haynesville Shale gas field

Rising seas put millions of people, trillions of dollars of assets, at risk in coastal cities
~Elaine Kurtenbach

Coming up in this week's Gambit

Dispatches From Baton Rouge and Tipitina's ~Foxessa

New book spotlights early photographs~Daily Advertiser
~C.C. "Curley" Duson looked out on to the southwestern prairie known as Faquetaigue, at the end of a 20-mile railroad spur, and saw progress. He and his brothers had founded Crowley, Mamou and other southwestern Louisiana towns but this new venture was set to beat all.

Oral history project aims to show that there's more to Central City than crime~Chris Rose

Portland Jazz Festival Announces Lineup
~all about Jazz