Samedi

Private landowners can restore wetlands on their property
~Daily Comet

Five Questions - What Perry, Murray, Georges and Jacobs have to say ~YatPundit

Plaquemines Parish festival celebrates orange growers' defeat of pest threats
~The festival is at the peak of navel orange season, said festival manager Dale Benoit, adding that this year's crops, which include 35 varieties, are doing well. But a gaping hole remains in the industry as many farmers in the southern part of the parish haven't come back from Hurricane Katrina.
The event, which features ferris wheel rides, fruit and oysters on the half shell, runs today from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m until 6 p.m. at the Medal of Honor Park, 12 Barriere Road, off Louisiana 23. ~Festival Schedule.

Red snapper recovering in Gulf ~Cain Burdeaux

Ashley had a word for guys like this* ~NOLA-dishu

Restaurant donates proceeds, but does it give notice? ~NOLAFemmes

Poynter guru: Economic recovery won’t help newspapers
~Jon Donley

Eddie Bernice Johnson says she wants federal stimulus funds to help Dallas meet new levee requirements~Rudolph Bush

Hamilton residents question engineers about leaks along levee ~Aquafornia

New operating manual needed for Folsom Dam upgrade
~Matt Weiser

Federal judge hears arguments in Rivers Coalition lawsuit
~James W. Brosnan~A federal judge heard arguments Friday on whether St. Lucie River property owners should be paid damages by the government because of Lake Okeechobee pollution, but she declined an opportunity to examine a sample of the river’s black bottom “muck.”
U.S. Court of Claims Judge Lynn Bush looked skeptically at Justice Department attorney representing the Corps, Steve Bryant, who stood and said, “I object. I had no prior knowledge of muck being brought to the court.”

Dutch approach to climate change: Adapt

Change of command set for Vicksburg District
~The Vicksburg Post

Tunica's New Cash Crop?
~Eric Smith

New Orleans Bicycle Film Festival Continues Today

Judith Owen- Out of the Darkness
~Author Julia Reed is joined by songstress Judith Owen to catch up on her latest work with husband Harry Shearer, the road out of depression, the importance of laughter in her recovery and more

Welking the HOSTILIDAYS
~ADRASTOS
~Editilla's Ho'tellas~ Birf'day wishes on these Hostilidays!
Keep an eye out for our Child-Governorcist's Bobby Avatar! 2:44

*
Churchill Downs to host summer music festival

Doctors, Professors, Kings and Queens: The Big Ol’ Box of New Orleans~Gumbo Pages

Vendredi

Funding N.O. Health Centers Must be a National Priority
~Rep. Edolphus Towns

Video: Soros on Human Rights versus Economic Rights
~The Lens

The Authorized Biography of Edwin Edwards To Be Released on December 14th ~CenLamar

Obama Administration Takes Important Steps Toward Modernizing Federal Water Project Planning

CA Republican Issa tries to get 'Tough Love' on Louisiana Hurricane(s) Survivors: wants us to Increase Our Taxes
~Jonathan Tilove
~"Is everyone so poor in Louisiana that the state cannot do more for you?" Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., asked the panel. "Are you going to be permanent ward of the federal government?"
Issa's question, which he said was born out of "tough love," won a wrathful response from Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio.
Kucinich said. "You're trying to keep alive a health infrastructure to assist people and we are getting ready to spend $160 billion next year on a stupid war in Afghanistan," "If we can't see that New Orleans is still suffering, if we can't see that New Orleans has a health-care infrastructure that is not adequate to meet the needs of people who are still recovering from the hurricane, if New Orleans has to come with a tin cup to beg for money for clinics ..." Kucinich said. "Our country is falling apart and what's happening in New Orleans is a signal condition of where America's priorities are totally fouled up."
~Our friend, YatPundit, weighs in well over at Da'JKos.

Questions arise about the appraised value of N.O. properties ~Richard A. Webster

Always know your place. Never let anyone put you in it ~slabbed

So the overall neglect of public education has brought us to this
~Liprap's Lament-The Line
~In a perfect world, the charters wouldn't be relied upon as the only means by which public education could be reformed.
They were never meant to be the cure for all that ails education.

Dopey-looking animal sits on couch to receive reluctantly given pat-on-the-head, also there's a dog in it
~Library Chronicles

Michael Down'Brownie Brown To Teach Class On Patriot Act?
~Zachary Roth

Sarah Palin: Betcha Louisiana ~Jim Brown~Then of course there is Palin’s vivid description on page 302 of praying in the shower with Rev. Rick Warren. I kid you not. OK, maybe I inferred too much. She was in the shower when the California Evangelist called, so she pulled in the phone to join him in prayer.

St. James, St. John bonfire work gets OK~David J. Mitchell

Plaques of Bay St. Louis Bridge
~Thanks Katrina

YatBazaar~YatPundit

Giving Thanks
~Crescent City Hack

11 and 0h my!
~Kosher Computing

To boldly go where hos have gone before~First Draft

Library begins to plan post-Flood construction and repairs ~Hullabaloo

LAGO Conference
~Huck Upchuck~If you are interested in scholarly research on Latin America, please take note of the following conference: Space and Identity: The Politics of Expression in Latin America

Cuba blasts US black leaders for charges of racism~Will Weissert

American Comparative Literature Association annual meeting~Our theme for 2010 is "Creoles, Diasporas, Cosmopolitanisms." The ACLA’s 2010 meeting in New Orleans—a city that has long prided itself on its exceptional linguistic, legal and cultural statuses—gives an occasion for reflecting on and extending the concept of the “creole.”

Louisisana's Lovecrafter
~A lifelong resident of Louisiana, Michael Frederick Korn (MF Korn) writes sort-of-surreal dark fantasy, mostly 'quiet' horror and strange science fiction. He is the author of twelve novels, two screenplays and two hundred and forty five short stories.

Aroma Cucina 2010 Calendar
Hot Damn!

Trumpeter Charlie Miller returns in time to celebrate 'Christmas in New Orleans'
~Keith Spera

Jeudi

The Corps of Engineers is not a "scapegoat"~Bob Bea
~In their Point of View “Ruling scapegoats corps for disaster” (The Times-Picayune, November 25, 2009), Rob Young and Andrew Coburn discuss the recent ruling by the Federal District Court in Robinson v. United States that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is guilty of gross negligence “in its failure to protect Chalmette and the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans from floodwaters during Hurricane Katrina.”

Contrary to the summary given by the authors, of this Point of View, the court found the corps guilty of “monumental negligence” in its more than 40 years of operation and maintenance of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO).
The key issues were how the MRGO had been allowed to induct saline water from the Gulf of Mexico destroying and degrading protective wetlands and levee fronting vegetation, widen its channel (more than three times its authorized width ) to the point where it became a significant wave regeneration basin, and failed to prevent the channel banks from encroaching on the adjacent flood protection structures and thereby significantly decreasing their protective elevations.
The court reproached the Corps for its “insouciance” and “myopia” in persistently failing to recognize these adverse effects and take appropriate and timely corrective action.

The massive failure of the flood protection structures in St. Bernard Parish and the Lower 9th Ward was the result of the combination of these defalcations in the operation and maintenance of the MRGO. Without these negative effects, the evidence produced during the trial showed these earthen levees would have performed acceptably and no catastrophic flooding would have occurred.

The authors also were concerned with the liability issues that could be associated with this ruling. The 156 page decision does not “scapegoat” the Corps. A scapegoat is “a person or thing bearing the blame for others.” The litigation brought by the plaintiffs was directed at the Corps for the MRGO damages.
The federal government’s engineers were found liable for these cataclysmic damages inflicted on an estimated 100,000 residents and businesses. To date, no other entity has been found responsible for contributing to the man-made catastrophe that killed over 1,300 people, displaced 500,000 residents, and caused billions of dollars of property damage. Whether others will also be found responsible remains to be seen. But one fact is inescapable: the Corps is a culprit, not a scapegoat.
~Editilla Gotta Mo'tella~ Emphasis all mine, Gentle'rillas.
From the minute this Bunk Yankee Guest Editorial Red Pelican hit the page, Letters to the Editor of complete rebuttal began flowing in to the nola.com/opp advertorial offices.
These verdant retorts came from many an aghast reader, but chiefly from Leaders in the Fight to get to the bottom of this Federal Flood, this stillborn yet still life Issue of What Went Down in New Orleans August 29th, 2005, to wit: Mark Davis from Tulane, Joseph Bruno-MRGO lead Plaintiff's Attorney, Sandy Rosenthal and H.J. Bosworth of Levees.org.
Given that yer'oh'so humble Editilla plays a bit too Rough on the Exquisite Corps for Decent Correspondence, we bent to rattling around the backhandpath of comments sections of these articles, sparring with the inevitable astro-turf defensive blogging from Corps OPP PR Operatives (COPPPROPrs), and even Spanking Rob Young (slabbed showing up around here before when the Corps needed a Punk Suck'Mouth) whom we have tagged as "The Anti-Ivor Van Heerden". And, speaking of whom.... Congratulations to Dr. Ivor Van Heerden on receiving the Joe A. Callaway Award for Civic Courage!
Fancy that, eh? The people who always come out to Smoke Screens for the Corps end up being these Smarmy Academic Hack Climbers, while the Heroes who have come out and Stood for New Orleans always seem to be these Straight-Up, Accomplished and Formidable Individuals. Go Figure. Go Mfkn Fish!
But other than the Chief Engineer from Levees.org, there was no Technical Retort in the comments to this screed.
By Sunday, the 4th day after this PR Roll-Out, I couldn't stand it anymore and wrote to Dr. Bea axing: "You gonna let these Punks Taint Yo'Skin???" The Inestimable Dr Bea responded to Editilla immediately with this Letter to the T-P, which he had sent directly to the outlet and which, my source toll'me, was forwarded Immediately to the Editors --whereupon it apparently remains now 4 days late, hidden from the da'que, no status dat'mattas.
Sorry, but that dog just won't hunt, so Editilla gained Gracious Permission (again immediately) from our Herolero Dr. Bob Bea to publish this Fine Response. Please share ya'know.
Please follow the title lede to the rest of his article.
If it weren't for this man and others like him, New Orleans would Literally be up Bull Shit Creek without a paddle.
Perhaps someone at nola.com still reads, has seen Editilla's sharp chagrin at their holding off on Bea's Knees and plan to perchance roll this piece the way they outta.
Still, your New Orleans Ladder ain't a half bad scoop, eh?
~Incredible Update~
Dr. Robert Bea has been following this work. Thanks Bob!

Dear Rep Ed Legg: New Orleans has mainly a culture of hospitality, not corruption ~Levees.org
~Ed Legg (D-Kennebunk) an elected official from the State of Maine was in New Orleans two weeks ago and decided that all of us are corrupt including federal Judge Stanwood Duval.
~Editilla Punk'0'rollas~ Yes everyone seems to have them: these gimp isolated Joe Lieberman Panty Boyz.
Even though this Prickness District is about 5 Miles from the Family Bush Hades in Kennebunkport (which we have always found to be a pretty weird name for a place) we are continually Stunned to run across Democrats in Republican Clothing.
Of course he cannot Man Up and confront her directly, sooo, in an effort to attack Mary Landrieu over the Health Care Legislation, this Freak'O'Lay has nothing in his pants but "Louisiana Corruption" and a ass'forked Yankee misnomer misapprehension of our cuisine. I mean, come on... does this pine-nut licker really expect anyone to take him seriously about anything, outside of the few dozen people who live in Maine?

Coburn offers amendment to remove Gulf Coast money from healthcare bill~Tony Romm
~A $100-million earmark for Gulf Coast recovery in the healthcare bill believed to have swayed Sen. Mary Landrieu's (D-La.) early support may soon be no more. An amendment introduced Wednesday by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) would strip that provision -- now known to many as the "Louisiana Purchase" -- from the bill entirely.

Sen. Tom Coburn is an Evil Scumbucket~Louisiana 1976

Charity Hospital debate turns on distrust of expert assessments
~Bill Barrow

Hurricane case-management focused on process rather than results, Sen. Mary Landrieu says
~Bruce Alpert

Allstate cancels thousands of policies in coastal Alabama and, speaking of Allstate, anyone else remember Desirée Rogers? ~slabbed

Mum’s the word at FEMA, MEMA~Anita Lee

Lolis Eric Elie leaving The Times-Picayune this week
~Kevin Allman
~Elie’s departure is just the latest of several high-profile departures at the T-P this year, where employees have been taking early retirement and company-sponsored buyouts.
The list of the departing and departed includes longtime fixtures David Cuthbert, Angus Lind, Susan Finch, Walt Philbin, James Gill, Chris Rose, Susan Larson, Millie Ball, Lynne Jensen, Brian Allee-Walsh, Valerie Faciane and Chris Bynum. "It’s like the roll call from hell at this point, all these people taking an exit from the T-P’s ship of fools. Can’t anybody local write for Da Paper?" ~liprap

Billionaire George Soros Increasing Involvement in NOLA
~The Lens~Editilla Notellas~The Lens receives funding from George Soros.

At The Dallas News, a New "Bold Strategy": Section Editors Reporting to Sales Managers
~Robert Wilonsky ~Hat Twit- oyster

Opening: Librarian, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, New Orleans

Report: Food stamp rolls have grown in La.~Sarah Chacko

Immigrant Filmmaker Documents the Rise of Vietnamese-American Political Power in New Orleans
~John Rudolf

Survival skills play out, from Katrina to Santa Rosa
~Bob Padeky

How States Can Escape the Credit Crisis: Own a Bank
~Nour Scardina

Bond No. 9 New Orleans Scent Smells like Voodoo and Drunkenness?

~Channeling all things deep south, this scent aims to recreate the feel of being in New Orleans with notes of cinnamon, sandalwood, violet leaf, cassis and vanilla.
The New Orleans scent comes in a beautiful Swarovski crystal detailed bottle. Retailing for a pretty hefty price, it is not something the average New Orleans resident can afford.
~Editilla Scentellas~OoooK'ville! Yes! Yes! We know how New Orleans is All About Voodoo and Drunkenness. Riiiight.
But, what does this Yankee Zombie-Clown Sweat have to do with the Smell of Greatness?

Work can start on levee bonfires

"DamGoodSweet" features NOLA dessert recipes
~Judy Walker

Odd Words
~Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans

Bywater Art Market Markey Park

“What’s your secret?”
~Alex Woodward

'God and Guns' Songwriter's Festival to cover country to rap this weekend in New Orleans
God and guns~Keep us strong
That's what this country~Was founded on
Well we might as well give up and run
If we let them take our God and guns
~Editilla Rotellas~That sounds just as fucking stupid too.

Mercredi

Corps ruling won't lead to greater liability~Joseph Bruno
~Rob Young and Andrew Coburn irresponsibly suggest that Judge Duval's ruling that the Corps of Engineers' gross neglect in the operation and maintenance of the MR-GO caused the flooding in St. Bernard and the Lower Ninth Ward "will open the door to unending liability for federal taxpayers to cover private property losses behind failed corps projects." Messieurs Young and Coburn's inability/failure to analyze the legal implications of the ruling mimics the corps' lack of engineering expertise.
~Editilla CoHo'tellas~ It also mimics local Corps-OPP-TP Public Relations Machinery I would still like to know who put these two Carpet Baggers up to this Faux Editorial.
It is obvious that they, like many, appeared immediately after this historic ruling to begin Spinning this issue as one of Tort Fear ---as opposed to Engineering Failure.
They have come out quickly with a Parallel Story to cloud the Issue, the way the Tobacco Industry "scientists" camouflaged public relations with so-called "studies" regarding the risks of Smoking, and the way anti-global warming industry "scientists" have for the past decade ramped up a Parallel Story for the effects of their industry on our environment.
They don't have to be correct, just published.
Why were they allowed to Spin this Lie here?
Who aimed them at the Times-Picayune?
I'm saying this "Guest Editorial", given the Absolute Bunk at every point, Absolute Bunk Screed (BS), was deliberately placed Advertorial Public Relations --NOT TRUE OPINION.

Soooo, Who put them up to it? Et Tu'ne Picayune?
Right off the bat, I would put my money on Gerald Galloway, Water Titan, Corps Man, and puller of the East-Corps Coastal Civil Engineering Model Train.
Big Man for the Water Industry, this is the guy who went coast to coast spinning the Muskrat Meme, Farmers, local city councils as Cause for the 2008 Mid West Levee Failures.
Not surprisingly he is the one they brought in to head the study of the Corps Flooding in the Great Mid West Flood of 93.
From his perch at the University of Maryland on down to Virginia Tech and all over that area of coastal civil engineering you see a bent towards the Corps Way. Engineering Professor Gerald Galloway is the Anti-Engineering Professor to Robert Bea, just as Coastal Geology Professor Rob Young has been presented here as the Anti-Coastal Geology Professor to Ivor Van Heerden.
The purpose of these Carpet Baggers' Advertorial Placements is to pre-scope this Parallel Narrative to the public in advance of the Corps Appeal of MR-GO.
I'm jus'sayin, we got enough trouble chasing death camp rodeo clowns like Young, Coburn, Galloway, Ruppert, ASCE and Co.
that we really shouldn't have to face their Risk Marketing Ads in our paper of record nola.com --especially on the Editorial Pages on articles addressing the Corps of Engineers.
~Corps should be held accountable for its work

Dear President Obama:
New Orleans Needs a Surge
~Karen Dalton-Beninato

Dear Charity Hospital Babies
and Supporters,
National Trust volunteers posing in front of one of many completed Home Again! projects in New Orleans.

Four years ago, The National Trust for Historic Preservation responded quickly when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita slammed into the Gulf Coast, unleashing massive devastation and placing the future of a great American city at risk. Within weeks the Trust was coordinating efforts on the ground, providing assistance to the first homeowners returning to the city, and opened a field office to advocate for sensible thinking about historic buildings and neighborhoods during a time of crisis and the critical role those places had and continue to have in the city’s recovery.

Over the last four years, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has invested more than $1,000,000 to maintain its field presence in New Orleans. Last month, we announced that while we would continue to support preservation in New Orleans through work from the Southern Regional Office in Charleston, SC, and our headquarters in Washington, DC, we could no longer continue to fund a field office in New Orleans.

Knowing the impact that the Field Office has had on the ground in New Orleans, local preservationists in New Orleans have mounted a fundraising effort to continue a local National Trust presence in the city. Now we need YOUR help to ensure that the field office remains open for another year.

We are overwhelmed by the amount of community support to keep an active on-the-ground presence in New Orleans.
Just recently, local preservationists secured a generous grant from The Ruth U. Fertel Foundation to kick off a grassroots fundraising effort for the work of the field office.
This grant will match - dollar for dollar - any contributions to support the National Trust’s field efforts in New Orleans up to $10,000. This, and related fundraising efforts with foundations and others, will put us well on our way towards securing the necessary funds to keep the office open for another year.

2009 tax sale properties online available for viewing

Lower 9th Ward offers plan for restoration~Amy Wold

~DesCours is a free, public, week-long architecture and art event now in its third year, held the second week of December in New Orleans.
This event invites internationally renowned architects and artists to create 14 architecture installations within 'hidden' locations in the heart of New Orleans, including private courtyards, rooftops, abandoned buildings and walkways, all locations normally unseen, inaccessible or unused by the public.

FEMA plans trailer auction
~Gonzales, La.~The Lamar-Dixon Expo Center will host a public auction of about 400 FEMA trailers and mobile homes beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, parish officials said Tuesday.

The Sun Herald expresses some disappointment at the Commish and his State Farm rate hike ~slabbed

Deal in works to resolve some FEMA trailer claims
~Michael Kunselman

GM eliminates dealership franchise in the heart of NOLA
~Humid Beings

Patriots vs. Saints Has Statospheric Ratings in NOLA

Gage Bonvillain's First Deer

St. Tammany Wants To Bypass Corps For Levee~WDSU

Corps lays out fixes for levee problems~Steve Whitworth
~The main concern is that while some amount of under-seepage of water is considered normal, water moving sand from beneath the levee is not normal.
"This is the only levee we're aware of within the Mississippi Valley Division that under normal operating conditions is moving both water and material," said Chris Wilson of the corps' St. Louis District. "That condition compels urgency. The levee is not at imminent risk of failure today, but it does require immediate attention. It's a problem that won't fix itself."

Why the Trinity River Project Could Be a Windfall for the Lawyer Who Sues the Army Corps of Engineers~Jim Schutze
~I love plaintiff's lawyers. I wish they were way richer. I hate "tort reform." Plaintiff's lawyers are cool, because they sue the socks off bullies. That's what this column is about.
The experts looking at the recent U.S. District Court decision on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Katrina damages in New Orleans are putting the potential total liability of the Corps in the trillions of dollars. That's what I'm talking about.
But here. In Dallas.

Corps PR Ad'news Ad Nauseum

Canal to be poisoned Wednesday in fight against Asian carp
~Dan Egan~We've wasted millions on electric barrier boondoggle

Proctor & Gamble: Trying to make a difference?
~Chelsea Moss

Checking in with Sista Affrodite

Worst Decade Ever~First Draft

Four 'Butterflynauts' Emerge on Space Station
~As of Dec. 1, four Painted Lady butterflies are living aboard the International Space Station.


1000 lb Gator Shot In Houma
This big male was killed crossing the soccer field in Houma, LA. About 30 miles from Morgan City. There was a larger female but it got away

'Steven Seagal: Lawman' full of possibilities~Tim Goodman

Chef John Besh serves up NOLA culture, cuisine in new cookbook
~Kevin R. Convey

Don't Forget the BECA Benefit Art Auction

Interview: Terry Teachout-Part 1
~Mark Meyers
~For the past six years, Terry Teachout has worked steadily on Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong, which was published a week ago to rave reviews. What's remarkable is not that Terry wrote the book on the side while pounding out weekly drama columns and arts essays for leading newspapers and magazines. Or that he wrote an opera libretto (The Letter) that premiered while he was working on the book. The truly astonishing feat is that Pops is easy to read. It's definitive. And it's as beautifully written as any of Armstrong's entertaining solos.

Great Improvised Jazz Tonight at Zeitgeist~Jay Mazza

Mardi

We've Lost One of Our Best and Brightest: Pam Dashiell

Baby I'm A Saints Fan!
That's why I say WHO'DAT?
When the Patriots took the field, Saints fans responded with mostly boos ... at 99 decibels.
And when the Saints came roaring out of the tunnel to start the game, the fans roared right back: at 105 decibels.
And they sustained that noise level through the kickoff.
But that apparently was just the beginning.
The decibels increased with the Saints' first touchdown, up to 110 decibels. The second touchdown measured 111 decibels. And the third, shortly before the end of the half, measured 108 decibels. The fourth Saints touchdown set up by the Brees-Colston show: 111 decibels.
When the Patriots attempted to make that fourth-down conversion in the third quarter, the Dome responded at 119 decibels before the snap. The Patriots failed to convert.
Darren Sharper's interception in the fourth quarter garnered 106decibels. The Sacre'dome is OUR HOUSE!

New Orleans Saints tribute songs

Katrina/Corps Flood Lawsuit Raises Broader Questions About Levee Safety~Matthew Cardinale
~In response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act, Levees.org obtained data from FEMA revealing that 55 percent of the U.S. population lives in counties protected by levees, up significantly from the 43 percent figure reported to Congress in June 2008.
Levees.org commissioned researcher Ezra Boyd to translate the many pages of data tables provided by FEMA into an easy-to-read map much more accessible to interested citizens (click map or here for larger image). Boyd also included a table highlighting the 46 major cities with populations in access of 300,000 located in counties protected by levees.
"The graphic and accompanying table shows that living by levees is not a distinctly New Orleans phenomenon," says Sandy Rosenthal, founder of Levees.org.
~Corps should be held accountable for its work



Hurricanes Come and Go but Attorney Joesph Bruno Is Here to Stay~Brenda Craig
~“My home was spared,” he says. “But all around me it was like—” He pauses for a long moment. “It was like Beirut!
You couldn’t go anywhere. There wasn’t a soul around. The worst time was at night. I was in my house watching television while people were drowning. I made me sick to my stomach.”
In the weeks and months that followed, the residents of New Orleans were repeatedly told they what had happened would happen again, and that they were crazy for living in a flood plane.
But somewhere deep down, Bruno believed there was another reason that New Orleans was dragged under water.
He began looking at the levies that the Army Corps of Engineers had built to withstand just such an event.
“The channel is 650 feet wide and 35 feet deep. The Army Corps of Engineers said it would not enhance waves, it would not enhance surge and it would not enhance conveyance—by conveyance I mean the movement of the water.”

Appeals Court Rules Contractors Not Liable for Katrina Flooding
~Taryn Luntz ~"The court said the private contractors who carried out the Army Corps of Engineers' wishes shouldn't be held liable," said Stephanie Showalter, director of the Mississippi-based Sea Grant Law Center. "It kind of sends it back to the Army Corps of Engineers. It says, 'It was your decision, it was your funding, it's your responsibility.'"

Steven Edwards: U.S. Army engineers fail at Good Walls 101
~Editilla gotta toll'ya~ We even have to protect our Soldiers from the Corps of Engineers! Interesting how some things cycle around as other things twist in the spin.

Commercial use of sediments from SW Pass? ~LaCoastPost

While Waiting for Corps' Report on Calatrava Bridge, a View from the Collapsed Levee
~Jim Schutze

Levee scrutiny gives neighbors nothing but bills~redding.com

Mean old levee plugs
~Science Codex

The Scarlet K ~slabbed

Jewish group persuades graduates to stay in New Orleans
~Bruce Nolan

Archdiocese of New Orleans contributed $2000 of tax-exempt collection plate donations to Maine referendum on same-sex marriage

Taking the Fall in Crashergate ~Harry Shearer

US DOT announces $280 million for streetcars, trolleys
~Michael Lindenberger

Calling for Lil Wayne's freedom, six charged with spray-painting graffiti in the French Quarter
~Richard Thompson


Bonerama
Hard Times (High Steppin')
~Alex Rawls

Lundi

"Be special, Finish strong
Smell greatness!"~Jeff Duncan

I Love My New Orleans Saints ~NOLAFemmes

Black & Gold Mania in Bars
~Alejondro De Los Rios

Leslie Jacobs, School Reformer For New Orleans Mayor
~Christopher Tidmore
~"I don’t only support inter-parish cooperation, I’ve led it. After the federal flood, I founded the five parish Southeast Business Council Coalition to improve our effectiveness in lobbying Baton Rouge and the federal government on regional economic development and quality of life issues.
There is tremendous need for a regional approach in flood protection and in criminal justice. Neither water nor criminals stop at the parish boundary. "
~Editilla Poleficates~Aside from the Spankin'Solid, You Got Dat'Rightness of Mrs Jacobs' statement here, what is blatantly missing? What is it that has been known to drive Editilla to gnash and tear new anus upon the clueless --especially this candidate, with sanguine relish on top? Doing the Katrina Shorthand Jive!
But lemme toll'ya what is striking my match about this candidate's turnabout and fair play: Shop talk. I love shop talk. Basic, simple, about the ways of Doing the Job better in and out nuts'n'bolts... And while there is always room in the shop for embellishment (BS), shop talk is cogent to the participants.
It is an inarguable fact that for almost anyone in New Orleans, Flood Safety definitely rates up there for Shop Talk. Everyone is a Stakeholder here as The Flood is in everybody's Shop.
Not only is she the First Candidate to use the term "Federal Flood", but Leslie Jacobs is telling me she places Flood Safety at the Fulcrum of New Orleans future recovery, and that is not to be without the parishes stitched together in a flood safety net, with New Orleans holding The Line. If anyone can show Editilla where another candidate has said what this one said then please do. Believe me we have been waiting and so far Leslie Jacobs is first out of the gate with it.
Why is this important one may ask. Well lemme toll'ya, if the Corps floods the city again (a strong likelihood) then all this other pretty shit is only that: shit floating in the water. Sorry to put it so bluntly, so grossly. But, while shit may "happen" the Federal Flood was "caused", and it can Be'Caused again given the Corps of Engineers continued, now obvious malfeasance.
Oh I left out the one thing which remains after the levees fail: Crime. Thank you Mrs Jacobs for considering the two together as some of the greatest threats to New Orleans Recovery.
If no candidate for Mayor of The City Da'Corps Forgot can address this issue of Flood Safety out front in their campaign, as has Mrs Jacobs, then they simply do not know what is going on in New Orleans. All the rest we must pass over in silence.
Here we have what we need woven tightly into Leslie Jacob's Shop Talk: standing for the City's Flood Safety as Chief Executive.
The only other vital institution to remain standing and fighting for our survival during the Federal Flood of '05 was Charity Hospital. Editilla gonna give Mrs Jacobs some more time to come around to our way of thinking about Charity, given her now stated grasp of New Orleans Flood Safety Issues.
Long before Leslie Jacobs was born to the idea of Stitching Parishes together post-Federal Flood, Charity Hospital was Stitching back together the City's victims of catastrophe both Natural and Man Made. And never never let it go down otherwise, when the Real Shit Hit the Fan in this city and there was no shelter from the flood, Charity Hospital Held The Line Sinn Féin.

Coming Soon: Corps Cat 5 Report
~John Snell, WVUE

West Bank drainage pumping station project scaling back
~Paul Rioux

Army Corps of Engineers sticks finger in Atlanta’s eye
~Bob Barr

The War Model Failed, So Let's Keep It Going~Harry Shearer

Nearer My Atheism to Thee:
How to Respond to Theists
~Michael Shermer

Cultural, musical, hand-drawn, Disney’s first fairy tale set in America captures the charm and warmth of old New Orleans ~Rouwen Lin

Excellence in Coming Out The Door~Red Cotton

BECA Benefit Art Auction

Subdudes forge new musical trails in ‘Flower Petals’
~Paul Nasella

Biographies illuminate the lives of jazz giants Louis Armstrong and Thelonious Monk
~Craig Morgan Teicher

Dimanche

Nola.com Mud-wrestles with Financial Conflict of Interest in Corps' Advertorial Advertising
~DIXCLAIMER! WARNING! BAT SIGNAL!
Scream-shot of Corps Advertisement today's Corps Editorial
~Editilla Theorellas~Who'dat Crying Alligator Tears?
Other than giving these criminal sympathizers at nola.com more chances to run their Corps Flash Ads, nola.com also employs the insipid propaganda tactic of Double Posting Corps Articles, which spreads the comments out between the two Identical-Articles, thus lowering the "Hit Threshold" of perceived "Public Interest" in this topic among its readers. Follow that?
Nola.com gets the same number of hits (in general) on the entire site (actually more as people hit both Identical Articles) to sell to Advertisers, but as for this (particular) issue (Corps Contract Corruption Makes Garbage Levees) they can easily say that "Hits and Comments" reflect lack of interests in this issue. And, they will say this because it means mo'money for them from the Corps. It makes the Corps PR firm Optimal Process Partners look good --like they are lowering the Corps "Negative Media Image"-- so OPP is more inclined to place more of these $100/day Flash Ads for the Corps. Sooo, btw, Editilla has a new Motto! WWHS?
What Would Homer Say? B'OH!

In a broken system, Corps is still accountable~Mark S. Davis

Flood Risk in Kent, Washington Echoes New Orleans Flood Issues~Carol Forsloff

Melancon fights for hurricane protection~Louisiana Now

Will other coastal communities share Leeville's fate
~John DeSantis

State land-grab for new hospital includes those who rebuilt after Corps' Flood~Bill Barrow

SPCA halting services in NOLA in budget dispute with city
~Cindy Chang

Holiday Season and Etsy Holiday Sale~Thrifting in Oblivion

Lady, Men & Kids Buckjumpers Second Line Parade TODAY 12-4!
~Red Cotton