Saturday, March 6, 2010

Samedi

Lynching Reference on Cover of New Orleans Music Magazine Brings Anger and Outrage
~John Flaherty


I’m still angry, you’re still wrong – a second letter to the editor
~Jill of All Trades, Master of One

~"offBeat – I am your reader. I am a citizen of New Orleans. I am white. I love music. And I find the cover of your March 2010 issue offensive and reprehensible. Not only have I read your magazine, but I’ve pitched you stories, hoping to write for you. When my lucky musical friends have been featured in your prestigious pages, I have celebrated them and supported the magazine. But I refuse to let you make me implicit in your ignorance, your racism, your utter disregard for your words by using none of mine. I will not allow you to implicate me by remaining silent."
No way around it: MR-GO is still scary~Bob Warren
~For a long, long time, MR-GO have been the scariest four letters in St. Bernard Parish and parts of New Orleans. For decades, critics of the controversial Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, cut through the marsh and wetlands in the 1960s as a shipping shortcut from New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico, blamed it for gobbling up thousands of acres of wetlands and cypress forest. They worried that the loss of that land made the area vulnerable to hurricane storm surges. And that was before Hurricane Katrina battered the MR-GO's levees and swamped St. Bernard Parish, eastern New Orleans and the lower 9th Ward.

'Katrina Resurrection'
~Kat Bergeron


The Moral Ambiguity of Looting
~Donald G. McNeil Jr.


More on Disaster Mythologizing: Natural Disasters, National Diligence: The Chilean Earthquake in Perspective ~Brookings Institute~The mistakes made, while not trivial, need also to be put into perspective. Perfection is wholly unrealistic in any crisis situation of this magnitude and complexity, where thousands of critical decisions and steps need to be taken in a coordinated fashion by many officials in disparate locations and in a very short period of time.
For instance, more serious blunders occurred during the U.S. response to 2005 Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Over 1,800 people died and tens of thousands were perilously stranded in their flooded homes, stadiums and convention centers for days. Looting, violence and disorder erupted and lasted nearly a week until 40,000 troops arrived belatedly to restore law and order.
Today the city has only about two-thirds its pre-Katrina population. This serious string of mishaps took place in a country with a generally effective government. Serious mistakes were made regarding the evaluation and maintenance of the old levees, the evacuation of citizens, availability of sufficient stocks of supplies before the hurricane, and in the coordination of rescue and recovery efforts in its aftermath.

Chile's Socialist Rebar
~Naomi Klein
~According to Stephens, the radical free-market policies prescribed to Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet by Milton Friedman and his infamous "Chicago Boys" are the reason Chile is a prosperous nation with "some of the world's strictest building codes."
There is one rather large problem with this theory: Chile's modern seismic building code, drafted to resist earthquakes, was adopted in 1972. That year is enormously significant because it was one year before Pinochet seized power in a bloody U.S-backed coup. That means that if one person deserves credit for the law, it is not Friedman, or Pinochet, but Salvador Allende, Chile's democratically elected socialist President. (In truth many Chileans deserve credit, since the laws were a response to a history of quakes, and the first law was adopted in the 1930s).
It does seem significant, however, that the law was enacted even in the midst of a crippling economic embargo ("make the economy scream" Richard Nixon famously growled after Allende won the 1970 elections). The code was later updated in the nineties, well after Pinochet and the Chicago Boys were finally out of power and democracy was restored.

Help Provide Missing Haiti Coverage~Plutonian Mac

Haiti and Chile: Singing strength
~Gender Across Borders

~Hat Tweet (H/Twt?;)~Charolette

Katrina-damaged Community Questions Lack of Recovery Money ~WGNO

FEMA reviews funding for Tulane library renovation ~Hullabaloo~FEMA announced Sept. 2 that they would give $16 million to the library. The funds come from FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, which aids state and local governments after major natural disasters. Through the program, Howard-Tilton has received $78 million since Katrina. The hurricane’s flooding caused eight feet of water to fill the library’s basement level, damaging mechanical equipment and library collections stored there.
~Editilla Lances local Katrina Shorthand Jive~
We'd like to point out that as long as people keep telling the Myth: Natural Disaster Katrina flooded New Orleans, as opposed to the Fact that the Corps of Engineers' Man-Made Disaster flooded the city 8/29/05, then who can blame FEMA for blowing Smoke Up Tulane's Ass over Recovery Funding? Well?

"Louisiana Purchase" was a necessary Medicaid fix, but media say it's "corrupt"
~Media Matters

~Media outlets are listing Sen. Mary Landrieu's (D-LA) efforts to insert funding for Louisiana in the Senate health care bill -- dubbed the "Louisiana Purchase" by conservatives -- as an example of Democrats' "corrupt" practices.
But the funds are urgently needed to fix the state's Medicaid problems, which are a result of Hurricane Katrina; moreover, many of the state's Republican lawmakers say the fix is necessary, despite criticizing Landrieu for securing it in the bill.


Mayors Want Federal Disaster Relief Laws Reformed

St. Mary, St. Martin parishes brace for high water
~Richard Burgess


Billboards air Levee District dispute~Nikki Busky

Plaquemines Parish is Ground Zero for "Hurricane Exploration" Oil Contracts.
Bad Science & Data=Corruption in La. & U.S. Government
~Creole Folks
~"Sandy Rosenthal, the Head of Levees.Org, has basically become the Erin Brockovich of La. due to her endless fights with the forces of corruption and evil in La. state and Washington D.C."

More on Levees~Quinta Scott

Monsanto completes $200M New Orleans expansion

GO Zone housing tax-credit extension endorsed by U.S. Senate~Bruce Alpert

Strip mall that won taxpayer money faces code problems
~Karen Gadbos, The Lens


Orleans school employees fired after Katrina win victory in court ~WWL

Bros’ lawsuit claims Who Dat? ~Bill Lodge
Who Dat suing NFL Properties? And the New Orleans Saints? And the state of Louisiana? Who Dat? Who Dat? Inc. filed suit in federal district court in Baton Rouge, alleging that the defendants wrongly damaged the firm’s right to profit in the weeks leading to the Saints’ Super Bowl championship last month.

Ann Marie Vandenweghe speaks out. So the Times Picayune wants some answers and the truth. What an ugly truth it is ~slabbed

Mitch Landrieu and Ray Nagin weigh in on investigations of New Orleans police
~Frank Donze


Coming up in Gambit: Stuck on the Causeway overpass with you edition

'Sailing' to lead locals against Rachel~Abram Himelstein

At this year's New Orleans Home and Garden Show, a more modern take on green building
~Molly Reid


Preserving the Louisiana heritage strawberry
~Katie van Syckle


Tennessee Williams Literary Festival~Bunny Gumbo's Blog

La. officials to seek business at Austin film, music festival
~Gary Perilloux


Can You Name 5 Female Artists? ~NOLAFemmes

VIP Ladies and Kids Second Line Parade Sunday 12-4pm
~Red Cotton, Gambit


Thanks to our friend debheybud at LCN TV

Friday, March 5, 2010

Vendredi

Area with deficient levee near hospital in downtown Alexandria~Bret McCormick

White House announces road map for coastal restoration in Louisiana, Mississippi
~Mark Schleifstein

~Editilla's takin'da back-hand turn~No! No! No!
Not another freakin'road Map! You know when they start that crap they are talking about Driving the Plan. Like Big Industry really gives a Rat's Ass whether we have Dry Land for a Port.
You don't really Need dry Land for a Port. The tide is Rising.
The Panama Canal is expanding, MS and Houston are expanding.
I say Big Industry sees Big Water as The Way. Water is Cheaper to Ship. Big Oil doesn't need dry land. That costs more Energy to Ship, and also that little Problem with Property Rights. Hey, with no Land, we have No Property Rights. Get it? No Problem!
However, on the other hand, we'll hold His'0'ner's to this one:
"We are really trying to emphasize two things today," Nancy Sutley, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality said. "One is that the federal government is on the job here. We're all working together. We understand the urgency, the need of getting our house in order."
"The other important issue is that we need to position coastal restoration and protection for the region front-and-center on the part of the federal government."
Hell. Even Editilla can count to 2 out of a 6 Pack!

Plan seeks to streamline coastal restoration~Naomi King
Roseate spoonbills take off from their perches Thursday in a swamp near Cocodrie. Click to enlarge.

Mississippi River could flood in spring~Amy Wold

St. Mary worried river could reach '73 level
~Tri-Parish Times
~The record-breaking snowfalls in the Northeast may be miles from the Gulf Coast, but come spring when the snow begins to melt, local officials fear the impact could be devastating. Morgan City Mayor Tim Matte held a press conference Monday to post businesses and residents on the problem of potential flooding. Roughly 40 Morgan City business owners sat in to hear Matte's update. A week earlier, Col. Alvin B. Lee issued a similar message: "Get ready."

Lessons of the 1979 Easter Flood
~Adam Lynch
~The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recommended last week that FEMA re-certify the levees protecting the Hinds and Rankin County edges bordering the Pearl River, despite the fact that the levees cannot stop a 200-year flood event similar to the 1979 Pearl River flood.

Revised outlook increases chance of major flooding in downtown St. Paul

Upper Midwest braces for severe spring flooding

Flood fears rise along rivers in eastern Nebraska

A look at federal reservoirs being used for water supply without initial authorizations

NAELS 2010 Staying Afloat: Adapting to Climate Change in the Gulf Coast and Beyond
~Dan Worth
~The Conference will bring together top attorneys, engineers, business leaders, environmentalists, scientists, and planners from New Orleans, Louisiana, the US, and the world to discuss how New Orleans, hundreds of low-lying coastal cities like it and an interdependent world community will adapt to ever-increasing populations and a rapidly changing climate in the coming century.

Mind the deadline for Road Home elevation grants
~T-P Editlorial


Surprise, Surprise: Jindal appoints cronies to oversee hypothetical hospital
~SaveCharityHospital.com


New Orleans City Council District A race getting muddier
~Frank Donze


$800,000 award from city could end up hurting Zulu
~Ariella Cohen, The Lens


TGIF Time to Get Slabbed

Attorney Ravi Sangisetty Runs for Congress in Louisiana
~Richard Springer


Attention, Dick Cheney: Don't the Germans Know We're At War?~Harry Shearer

New Drug Increases Life Expectancy for Prostate Cancer Patients, Study Finds
~The study, led by Dr. Oliver Sartor of the Tulane Cancer Center in New Orleans, examined the efficacy of cabazitaxel in men whose prostate cancer continued to progress after receiving chemotherapy treatment with the drug docetaxel and hormone therapy. Those who received the new drug in combination with the chemotherapy drug mitoxantrone lived 2.4 months longer than those who received mitoxantrone with prednisone.

Our 2010 New Orleans Saints FANS

The 5 Year Anniversary
~Gulf Sails


So..like...zup with dat, man?
~Gary's New Life

~Editilla bites the tongue what feeds us!~
New Blog Find Alert! New Blog Find Alert! Yaaaaaaassssss!
Ain't often you can catch me speechless, as has this cat with the Big Apple. The way he stitch'hikes the Big Easy into the story of the Big Apple makes poor Editilla wanna'cry.
So we just stole this video offa his post thanks youz very mush...
because there is WAY'MO waiting in Gary's New Life. Comesee!

*
fugue~NOLAFemmes

Orthopaedic surgeons will meet in New Orleans next week

Literacy conference next weekend in New Orleans

Odd Words
~Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans


Art About Food, in the Oxford American~Sam Sifton

"Grass at Freedom High", 28 x 30", mixed media on posterboard
(acrylic,pastel, charcoal) $300 unframed, Polly Jackson

~AKA~Da'Masqued Evinga! PWALLY, Mostly True Stories

~Langhorst Website and Calendar click to enlarge

Dave Bartholomew, father of New Orleans sound, reflects on amazing musical career ~WWL

Victor Goines follows jazz wherever it leads him
~John Wirt


(Fuck) OffBeat Magazine:
Off-color is more like it
~Missy Wilkinson, Gambit

~Editilla Picks a Bone from Our Heart~
~Those shameless fakirs. And for anyone who didn’t grow up around a southern dinner table, here is my comment to the offBeatoff in case they pull it (wit'up-dated lagniappe): I have never been so ashamed of one of my Favorite New Orleans Magazines as now in the fetid glare of offBeats OFFing Race Card.
The sun has truly fallen into someone's asshole there.
Who made the call on this month’s Used Paper?
You know what I’m talkin’bout, hear? Used, Paper, like you'd find in the bottom of any outhouse on my daddy’s farm back in the year they drove Emmett Till around Bolivar County, Mississippi –before they chained him to a gin fan and tossed him, beaten and tortured but still barely alive, into the Tallahatchi River, his face so disfigured that his Mother demanded an Open Casket!
That is what I am talking about here. Ya’hear?
Who made the Call? Who Fucking Made This Call????
Know this: I will not, cannot, post ANYTHING from offBeat in my own Blog until somebody here takes responsibility for hanging a bunch a white boys up on a Jungle Jim so you can laugh at the Lynched Niggers.
Yeah, I said it because That Is What This Means to Honkies.
That is why they threw Billie Holiday nickels and dimes without ever realizing that she was Singing About Them.
Listen to the SONG for Goddess sakes! Jeez Louie!
Learn why artist Really do music, or become the Fucking Off Beat.
~Stood UpDate~ offBeat's apology, such as it is. They looked up "Strange Fruit" on Wiki so I guess that settles it, eh?
We believed that in 2010, the phrase “strange fruit” could be used without automatically evoking the Billie Holiday song and its subject matter. This was an error in judgment for which we apologize.
Uuuhmmm, Y'all...that dog just won't hunt. Sorry. So Sorry.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Jeudi

Scalise Continues Fight for Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Projects
~Inside Louisiana News


Cruising for the Coast Mar 14th
~A sunset cruise hosted by Ship Island Excursions with great food, and discussion to benefit the Gulf Restoration Network.

Mitigating for MRGO with the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal ~lacoastpost.com

Environmental Effects of Hurricane Ike Evident

Red River Erosion Bad Before Spring Flooding ~Cenlanews.com

Problems in the Missouri River flow downstream

EPA may consider limits on discharges from small commercial vessels
~Mark Schleifstein


Floodwall Replacement, Floodwall Construction along Haynes Blvd from Lake Front Airport to Paris Road ~FedBiz

500-year flood plain plan washes out in Iowa~Whatever support there was for an ambitious plan to base state flood protection policy on the 500-year flood plain has been eroded by concern over the lack of reliable flood plain maps and whether new requirements would stymie economic growth.

Pawlenty asks feds' help as MN cities prepare for flood fight

Disaster Myth grows Diversified
---Chili Vs. Haiti
~Petroleumworld.com

~Editilla Rotellas~As Ms Klein points out in her essay below, the New Disaster Myth is not as much about Spinning the Realities of Disaster, both Natural and Man-Made. The tactic of these Disaster Myth Makers is to simply outright Lie.
Take this one for example, in comparing New Orleans (Man-made Disaster) to Haiti (Natural Disaster):
~[Disaster management scholar Joseph Trainor observed that “…people are not victims of disasters, they are survivors…People are adaptive and altruistic, mass rioting and mass looting are just disaster myths for the most part…] Riiight. I guess
Danzinger Bridge was just a stop on the Yellow Brick Road
and the Tonton Macoutes were just Bad Guys in a movie.

Chile's Socialist Rebar
~Naomi Klein

~More from the Jawbone of the Beast

FBI opens two new investigations into conduct of New Orleans police after Katrina
~Brendan McCarthy


Police station not ‘evicted,’ developer says~The Lens
~"No good deed goes unpunished." That was how real estate developer Pres Kabacoff ended an e-mail sent recently to New Orleans City Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell.
The good deed in question was Kabacoff loaning space for a temporary 5th District police headquarters. The punishment, the real estate developer wrote, was the District D councilwoman’s choice of words at a Thursday council meeting.
In approving a new temporary district station, Hedge-Morrell said that Kabacoff “evicted” the precinct.

Fuck Latter & Blum... Fuck them very much ~American Zombie

Did I hear someone say they wanted to read Aaron Broussard’s deposition in the pumps lawsuit? ~slabbed

New Orleans inspector general drafts report on recovery oversight contract
~Michelle Krupa


IG: NOPD chief's lack of cooperation amounts to gross misconduct~Paul Murphy, WWL

Proposal would hit wallets of government employees convicted of work-related felonies~Ed Anderson
~Two Metairie lawmakers have filed proposed changes in the state Constitution that would bar government employees or elected officials from collecting taxpayer-financed retirement benefits if they are convicted of felonies related to their jobs.

Former Employee Suing State Attorney General For Discrimination ~WDSU
~In her federal civil action against the Louisiana Department of Justice, Jennifer Medley is claiming unequal pay for unequal work. Her lawyer, Dale Williams, says because Medley is African American and because she is female, she's been methodically discriminated against. “Some of the implications are, is that if you're a white male in the attorney general's office, you're paid highest. If you're a white female, you come next. If you are a black male, you're next in line. If you are a black female, you're at the bottom,” said Williams.

Louisiana not included in college- graduation alliance
~Alexandria Town Talk


I keep losing friends I never met ~TBogg

The Forest Retreat
H/T~American Zombie

Oh Hell, Here They Come...

Airport renaissance on the lakefront~Rob Masson

More In Spike Lee’s lens
~Leigh Coleman
~“After we finished the first documentary I knew we had to follow up in South Mississippi,” Lee said.“People are still hurting. Making this film takes some detective work, but we are finding out that the people who lived here before Katrina do not want to just disappear from the grid — they want to come home and stay.”
Lee said there is no script; he and his crews go where the interviews lead. “The people in New Orleans are strong but have little or no faith in the Army Corps of Engineers,” Lee said. “South Mississippians are strong, too, but they need to have faith in the local, state and federal government — these folks have to do their job.”

2010 St. Joseph's Parade: Mar 6
~Italian-American parade will begin at Canal Street and Chartres; proceeding down Chartres to St. Peter; left on St. Peter to Royal Street; right at Bienville to Bourbon Street; Another right onto Bourbon Street down to St. Anne. Finally, the parade will turn onto St. Ann and proceed back to Royal Street and take Royal back to Canal.

Katie’s Restaurant Reopens in Mid-City~Ian McNulty, Gambit
H/T~Library Chronicles

Three of four nominees in IACP Cookbook Awards American category are New Orleanians
~Judy Walker


Chef Paul Prudhomme and the Great Cajun Omelet
~Wendy Rodrigue


Louisiana Drumline Camp helps kids develop percussion skills
~Sheila Stroup

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Mercredi

Jefferson Parish Council Update: If not for a conflict of interest, DA Connick and family would have no interest at all ~slabbed
~Folks we’ve passed from the ridiculous to the completely over the top as my phone and email in box are getting a heck of a workout this morning.
I hope I’m wrong, but this post involves what you won’t be reading later in the Times Picayune despite them having a reporter in attendance at today’s Parish Council meeting.

Alexandria Still Searching for Answers on Levees
~The Town Talk
~Local officials still don't know exactly what is wrong with the levees along the Red River and within the city of Alexandria. Chris Brouillette, the executive director of the Red River, Atchafalaya & Bayou Boeuf Levee District, said Tuesday that he still is searching for answers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Flood maps raising concerns
~Wes Helbling

~Bastrop, La- FEMA’s new Flood Insurance Rate Maps for Morehouse Parish are raising serious concerns about accuracy and the financial impact of these maps for local property owners.

Vitter seeks to block new flood maps, bends over to Corps Levee Certification Assessments
~Lloyd J. Nelson III

~“This is a really critical challenge,” David Vitter (R-Pamp) said. “We're really under the gun right now.” Vitter said the bill “would give local communities some breathing room” to bring their levees up to FEMA's standard (translate: come up with the money for the Corps) while avoiding massive increases in insurance costs while levee work is being done.
~Editilla Punks the Diaper Man~Vitty the Squeeze says he represents Louisiana by standing before us with a Gun in one ear (FEMA) and a Gun up his butt (Corps of Engineers), while he screams "Nobody Move Or I'll Shoot The Pervert!" Send this Repugnant Diaper-wearing Ho'Doggin Lobby'junkie Home!

NFIP extended to March 28
~Bruce Alpert

~The bill, adopted 78-19, also continues for 30 days the National Flood Insurance Program and the federal highway assistance program, which, along with the extended unemployment benefits, expired Sunday. Without federally subsidized flood insurance, home sales are at risk in flood-prone communities because banks won't provide mortgages.
Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, said the problem is that Congress has made temporary extensions of the flood insurance program, putting it in danger whenever there is a political dispute about major spending legislation. That's why, Scalise said, he has joined Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., in proposing a five-year extension.
Meanwhile, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., secured support from the Obama administration for a two-year extension of GO Zone tax benefits designed to spur development in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Landrieu urged her Senate colleagues to include the extension in the unemployment bill. Debate on the measure began Tuesday night.

Midwest Frets Over Halted Flood Insurance Program.
Thank You, Jim Bunning


FEMA extends MA flood deadline ~Pamela Metaxas
~It is hoped this will resolve the issues related to the possibility that homeowners with mortgages would be mandated to purchase flood insurance, Chicopee Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said. At issue is that FEMA decided to update its Hampden County flood maps at the same time that the Army Corps of Engineers told the city that $6 million of federally mandated work must be completed on the dike system to correct deficiencies.
~Editilla gotta Ax a Rectorical Question~Who'dat?
~
Who gives FEMA their Engineering Standard Data?
This is like watching Finny and Ham show up at your door to collect "Protection Dues".
Finny (FEMA): "Hey Youz! You gots no protection heah!"
Ham (Corps): "Hey Yeah, Finny! They got no protection heah!"
Finny: "But we gots Protection heah, ain'ts we, Hammer?"
Ham: "Yeah, Finny, you got dat'right! We got'dey Protection!
And they know what will happen if they Don't Pay for It, right?"

American Tax Payer: "Riiiiiiight...we play Go Fish?"

Drainage line repairs get under way in New Orleans
~Bruce Eggler

~"As we prepare for another rainy season, it is vital that our drainage system functions at its highest capacity, and this project will complete our efforts with FEMA to restore the drainage system to its pre-Katrina levels," Public Works Director Robert Mendoza said.
~Editilla dice mi PutiClub Su PutiClub~
Is Robert Mendoza married to H'OPPer Stacy Mendoza who works for Optimal Process Partners, the Corps' slinky Tax-Funded $5,000,000 Public Relations Firm?
If so, would that represent Compounded Interests, or at the least,
Apparent Conflict of Parentage? Gadzookas, Thingfish!
Jus'axin....Comments are moderated.
Can't we just at least Try to do things differently this time? Mitch?
Perhaps not...

Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu appoints 30 to New Orleans economic development panel
~Frank Donze

~The committee co-leaders are Leslie Jacobs, the education reformer and insurance executive who dropped out of the race after Landrieu entered at the last minute, and Greg St. Etienne, chief executive of Citizens United for Economic Equity, a nonprofit group specializing in small business loans.
Jacobs, who endorsed Landrieu, said despite the challenges facing the new mayor, she is confident better times are ahead.
"I think that New Orleans is at the precipice of just tremendous economic development opportunities and job creation,'' she said. "I've never been more optimistic about the city, and I think with his leadership and the opportunities that we have, New Orleans is going to experience a great renaissance.''
Well we certainly don't want to have a less than great renaissance!

First appointees named for N.O. medical center board
~Marsha Schuler


Shall we dance? Magistrate Shushan invites Allstate and Pilot adjusting to the party – Order grants in-part Motion to Amend Complaint REVISED AND CORRECTED ~slabbed

Drawing lines before counting voters ~John Maginnis
~Census workers begin fanning out this week across the New Orleans area for an early start to the decennial count that begins next month for the rest of the state and nation. Official figures won't be released until early 2011, and the Legislature will meet to draw new district lines about a year from now. Yet legislative committees already have circled the state to hold reapportionment briefings and one public official and an organization have even presented plans for redrawing congressional and state Senate districts.

St. Bernard site holds potential for holistic redevelopment, visitors say~Katy Reckdahl

State shifting part of teacher pay expense to local districts
~R.T. Scott


Where Do We Stand?
~Cliff's Crib


Chile navy admits tsunami failure ~Al Jazeera

From the Jawbone of the Beast
~“Economic and Environmental Principles and Guidelines for Water and Related Land Resources Implementation Studies”
~Mr. Fred Caver, former Deputy Director of Civil Works for the Army Corps of Engineers prior to his retirement in 2005, explained the significance of the proposed Principles and Guidelines revisions and why water related organizations should be informed. Mr. Caver now runs a small water resources consulting firm, Caver and Associates, Inc., and serves as the Chairman of the National Waterways Conference.
~Editilla hangs a Perp on the Wall:
Mr Fred turns up in Congressional Committee, in the weeks after the Corps Levees Failed, with other Career Corps Perps, to Spin other Causes of the Corps of Engineers Failures, in this case Environmental Activists.
This was the last of the Absolutely Corrupted Cheney/Rumsfeld Era Senate Committee for Environment and Public Works, which "oversees" the Corps of Engineers stateside. It is truly hard to describe how badly these men misrepresented the facts. It is even scarier to see now how this man, Fred Caver, (aptly named) has turned his Tax-Payer Funded Career into a Corporate Water Consultancy, and purveys his Publicly Funded Experience to enrich Big Water Industry Public Relations. It is in the words and actions of men like this and ASCECORPS Titan Gerald Galloway that we will find the next movements of Big Water.

*
Floodgate expansion to be studied~David Mitchell

~SE Louisiana Flood Protection Authority - East
~SE Louisiana Flood Protection Authority—West

National Association of Environmental Law Societies Annual Conference March 4-7

Sanitizing Disaster Myth
~And more (does it get any better?) from AjaxWorld

Architects are often the last people needed after disaster ~David Sanderson

Intelligent Structural Design
~Bentley


Sustainable Development Guide for the Federal Government Co-Authored by HOK
~A new comprehensive guide for sustainable development in the federal government, authored by thought leaders from HOK, the General Services Administration and the University of Maryland, has earned a top award from the Federal Planning Division of the American Planning Association.

2 companies compete for record- setting Alaskan pipeline
~Shaun Polczer
~TransCanada and the Denali pipeline consortium are competing to build a $30 billion pipeline in Alaska. The pipeline from Prudhoe Bay could deliver about 3.5 billion cubic feet per day to southern markets and would be the world's largest private construction project.

EPA pollution cleanup efforts plummeted in 2009
~Steven Power


Ethical Hacking Basics, Part 1

Rachel Alexandra prepares for 2010 debut at New Orleans

Fun-Guy Mushrooms
~Serious Eats


Filmmaker Spike Lee filming documentary on South Mississippi’s Katrina experience

Harry Shearer Album Greed and Fear Released

Irish Eyes: Unique style of music rises from NOLA streets

Terrytown celebrates 50th anniversary with Amanda Shaw, Rockin Dopsie Jr. and more
~Molly Reid


454. Randy Newman
Feels Like Home~499 Songs That You've Never Heard

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Mardi

Chile troops, police clamp down on post-earthquake looting
~Jonathan Franklin


~More than 10,000 troops have been deployed to patrol the city of Concepción and outlying areas hit hard by the 8.8-magnitude earthquake. But even as the first contingents fanned out on foot and in army tanks, they seemed unable to contain the chaos.
In Concepción, looters set fire to a department store and supermarket, sending heavy smoke billowing over the heavily damaged city. Rescue workers continued to dig through the rubble yesterday in an effort to reach survivors inside a 14-story building that toppled during the earthquake.
~Editilla Gotta'Ax~Hey! What Is You People's Problem?
Isn't this stuff just Disaster Myth for the most part?
Let's Ax Da'Wizad FEMA Disaster Management Scholar!
~[Disaster management scholar Joseph Trainor observed that “…people are not victims of disasters, they are survivors…People are adaptive and altruistic, mass rioting and mass looting are just disaster myths for the most part…] (USA Today)
~The only way to Stop these Media Myth-Making Punks like FEM'MAN Joseph Trainor, or ASCECORPS Titan Gerald Galloway, or Exquisite Corps Ho'z of OPP from Spinning their insipid and debilitating Disaster Myths is to put the Hounds on their ass right out of the gate. Editilla'willa run these Hounds back to Hell, call it the Neo'Kat Shorthand Jive!
We...Are...BEOTCHWOLF!
Ahem, yes, well, but really...
We must Tag and Identify these Evil Spin'filtraitors now, because we will get another hurricane, again Natural Disaster.
Then, there is a High Probability that the Corps' remaining Bad Failed Floodwalls may fail, again Man Made Disaster.
Then, we will have water in our hearts and blood on our hands... ---again Humanitarian Disaster.
We know there is Trauma going down in Chili.
We know this is No Disaster Myth.

Careful What You Wish For ~American Zombie

Rose report is awfully cute, also plain awful ~The Lens

The Frayed Blue Line~Adrastos

Speaking of Hell'Hounds
~For some companies, let's call them Hurricane stocks, the opportunity to take part in the Gulf recovery means a great deal of more business in the short term. For others, it may mean more business for many years to come.
Hurricane stocks are companies that are needed right now.

Some Hurricane and rebuilding stocks have already jumped and retreated. But the point to remember is that while the hurricanes resulted in an immediate need to help those in dire need, they also ushered in a new era, an era when governments and people in the U.S. and around the world know they can do more to recover from disasters and minimize the consequences.
So keep an eye on companies that will be at the center of the Disaster and Prevention theme for years to come.
~Editilla Eyeballas~Oh yes, we have every intention of Keeping the Tilla'Eye on these carpetbagger investment port'0'princes of industry and commerce.
Dat'CAT is outta'da Bag, eh t'chu Slabbed?

Bad Faith Insurers Safeco (Liberty Mutual) and Republic coming to scam coast residents ~slabbed~Republic is an interesting carrier.
Its corporate parent is American Financial Group which conducts business under the trade name Great American Insurance Company. Republic’s corporate parent sports a BBB credit rating and ranks at number 19 on the FBIC bad faith insurer list.
What I found interesting it is run by Carl Lindner’s son.
I remember Mr Lindner’s name from my time swing trading Chiquita as the man that sanctioned crop dusting Chiquita’s Central American fields hands in the name of productivity and paying off the FARC (Marxist Narco Terrorists) along with price fixing and a laundry list of other unsavory business.

The Economics of Natural Disasters~Terri Cullen

Of course maybe there is a Way to let Schrodinger's CAT outta da'Box? Steal This Plan
~Sue Loomans, executive director of the Wisconsin Green Building Alliance, said it is important to provide better, longer-lasting infrastructure through the rebuilding effort.
“As we have seen in post-(Flood)/Katrina New Orleans, sustainability can grow from disaster,” she said. “Although always tragic, situations like the disaster in Haiti allow us the opportunity to create a built environment that is healthier for the people and the planet and more resistant to damage from future earthquakes, hurricanes and impacts of climate change.”

After the Debris Clears
~Qina Liu, Buzzsaw

~Although many people no longer discuss Hurricane Katrina, the reality of the devastation continues in New Orleans. For Joyeta Basu, an Ithaca College senior who traveled to New Orleans this past January, the fact that the surrounding area was still touched by Katrina after five years was most jarring. “There would be houses that would be completely destroyed right next to foundation that was remnants of a house sometime in the past, and it basically looked like the destruction that they showed by the news when it was on TV,” Basu said. “You would think that after so many years, things would have gotten a lot better.”
Yet for many New Orleans victims living in the 7th and 9th Wards, that is certainly not the case. When the levees broke after Katrina, so did their lifeline.
~Bold emphasis all Editilla~
We need to Cherry'O this author for avoiding the Evil Katrina Shorthand! Thankz youz, Qina Liu, for telling it the way it was.


'Real answers' on levee crisis are hard to find~Bret McCormick

David Vitter files bill to stop updating flood maps

US Senators criticise FEMA’s proposed disaster recovery plan

Profession told to "engineer" a new name~Peter Marsh
~“Rather than spend their time complaining that people fail to understand what they do, professional engineers should take a pro­active stance on what their image should be. One way to do this could be to devise a new name [for the profession],” said Ian Louden, Head of Brand HOB) at ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steel company. Mr Louden’s comments came after Dick Olver, chairman of aerospace group BAE Systems, told the Financial Times that the people who fix gas boilers should stop calling themselves engineers.
According to Mr Olver, using “engineer” to describe people who did jobs that required relatively few qualifications detracted from the image of professional engineers and discouraged young people from seeking jobs in the field.
~Precisely sayz Dear Editilla! Who'z on First?~
Names matter, but titles are given when the game is over, to wit: Looter, Disaster Management Scholar, Corps of Engineers, murderer, criminal, punk, gimp, perp...
To Date, We The People have Not Gotten One Single Name of the Engineers that designed and built our Failed Floodwalls and Devastated New Orleans 8/29/05. No one has been disciplined or, heaven fore fend, Fired --only transferred "out of theater".
~So allow us to name them Perp, title: Branded Coward.

Punk Engineering Retard Plug
Be on Da'Lookout!!! ~Perp exhibits a fetish for cross-dressing in US Army Fatigues with Bright'n'Shinny New White Hard Hats.
Perp is Addicted to Red Castle Cool Aid, thus look for staining on the tongue, brown nose, and glazed look of underestimated profit.
Perp can be easily spotted by their inability to use a Slide Rule or operate a Port'A'Let without Congressional funding.

The City Care Unlimited forgot ~Your Right Hand Thief

Ever tried antelope stew?
How about lamb lollipops?
~Loyd J. Nelson III

Those with a taste for the wild side don’t have to look any further than the 13th Annual Wild Game Supper in Larose. The annual fundraiser for the Larose Regional Park and Civic Center is set for 6:45 p.m. March 25 at the Civic Center, 307 E. Fifth St. For those who purchase VIP tickets for $500, the meal begins at 5:30 p.m.

Paying Parking Meters
~David Winkler-Schmit


*
Dont let Da'Doh hit'ya...

StoryCorps to spend a month recording memories of 140 in New Orleans~Bruce Nolan

Who wrote...?
"My favorite New Orleans things"~Blake Pontchartrain


Return to the Dew Drop
~Still Singing the Blues

Monday, March 1, 2010

Lundi

Here's One fo'da Oyster...

*
1:1 Odds~American Zombie

Now Canada Won't Have To Declare War On Us
~Monster on a Rope
Chile troops, police attack post-quake looting
~Rescuers found signs of life in a quake-toppled building on Monday as the world offered aid to victims of a catastrophe that killed more than 700 people. Troops and police cracking down on looters arrested dozens of people for violating a curfew.
~One more time everyone!
~[Disaster management scholar Joseph Trainor observed that “…people are not victims of disasters, they are survivors…People are adaptive and altruistic, mass rioting and mass looting are just disaster myths for the most part…] (USA Today)
~Editilla Spectellas~We wonder how many people would have actually gone out of control in New Orelans 8/29/05 had we any sort of Police on the scene, as they do in Chili.
But, we did not since They Ran Ferrel.
They were there at first sorta, letting folks Make Groceries, but then, once the Levees Failed everything changed.
I will always wonder, but one thing I won't do is let go of the likes of Joseph Trainor linked above, the FEMA Disaster Management Scholar, the self-styled Disaster Myth Maker.
Oh yeah, we not gonna let this one go no.

It only took 5 years after Katrina to figure this out... ~Vickie Moos

New Orleans Pumps
~Gov. Accountability Project


Meeting scheduled for proposed hurricane route~John DeSantis

Senator Jim “Dumb” Bunning flips off the Nation. The NFIP has expired. Hope you don’t flood today.

National Flood Insurance Program expires, slowing down sales of properties where flood policies are required
~Rebecca Mowbray


New Orleans Revs Up For Google Fiber Initiative ~BBuzz

Census Takers Begin Hand Delivering 2010 Census Questionnaires to 12 Million U.S. Addresses

Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu ran the Rock 'n' Roll Mardi Gras Kiddy Marathon in a good time

The Year's Best Architecture?
~John Klingman


Paris Under Water
~Review by Emmanuelle Smith


Violin prodigy, 13, readies for his solo~Steven Landry

Music Without Bars
~Tom Macom


Preservation: An Album To Benefit Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program (Deluxe Version) ~girlmusic

Music professor and students collect musical instruments for Haiti~In an effort to revitalize music education in Haiti, Loyola University New Orleans music professor and Haitian native Jean Montès, D.M.A., will travel there in late March with a group of students and volunteers to deliver musical instruments to the earthquake-devastated Holy Trinity School of Music.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Dimanche

Chile Earthquake Deaths Exceed 700 Amid Looting, Aftershocks ~Business Week
~Editilla De-Mythaflies~ After having had Enough of people comparing the Man-Made Disaster of devastation of New Orleans with the Natural Disaster of the Haitian Earthquake, we want to get on this before they start with the Chilean Earthquake.
[Disaster management scholar Joseph Trainor observed that “…people are not victims of disasters, they are survivors…People are adaptive and altruistic, mass rioting and mass looting are just disaster myths for the most part

La. fuel supplies for evacuation under review ~Amy Wold
~Just two days before Hurricane Gustav made landfall, the National Incident Management Systems and Advanced Technologies Institute based at UL Lafayette got a call. One of its partners — Wal-Mart — told the institute that the state would not have enough summer fuel blend to handle an evacuation of the entire coastal area. Working with a number of state, federal and private partners, winter-fuel blend was allowed to be distributed and the evacuation moved forward.
“That spoke to us very clearly that there needs to be a public and private endeavor,”
said Ramesh Kolluru, executive director of the institute, also known as NIMSAT.
~Also~Center to coordinate emergency response

Case Study: New Orleans fought to educate displaced citizens on the City’s revitalization plans and progress ~Granicus
~Editilla Cherry'Os!~We would like to give Kudos and Cherry'Os to this company for dispensing with evil Katrina Shorthand in their website presentations to other businesses and the public.
This is not a News Organization, but a private company who worked for the city.
This company Gets It,
and should be awarded more work from the city. Thanks fo'tellin it as it was.
"In August of 2005 New Orleans experienced the largest civil engineering disaster in American history, leaving 80% of the City under water and displacing thousands of residents."

St. Bernard's Chalmette Loop levee contract awarded
~Chris Kirkham


Meetings on levees set for Mar. 1 in Mansura, Mar. 5 in Jonesville
~Congressman Rodney Alexander will host town hall meetings in Mansura and Jonesville to discuss levee certification in the 5th Congressional District.

Bonnet Carre Spillway needs to be put to work for wetlands restoration~Bob Marshall

Dikes and Dams, Thick with Politics~Wiebe E. Bijker
~Things are thick with politics. This essay illustrates the point by focusing on a variety of technologies that help to manage water: anicuts and tanks in India, dikes and a storm surge barrier in the Netherlands, and levees in New Orleans.

Jeb Bush’s Former Partner Builds Faulty Pumps That Were Installed In Nola, How Much More Will It Take?
~Florida Voter Registration

~Editilla Rotellas~Please see our post on this from last year, and tell me the Times-Picayune has not basically Ceased covering Corps malfeasance in New Orleans.

Marsh blazes raise burning questions ~John DeSantis
~Prayers and good wishes continue flowing for a Dularge patriarch who suffered life-threatening burns during a rabbit-hunting trip gone bad. The practice that led to the tragedy — torching wetlands to urge critters into hunting range — is rooted in south Louisiana’s hunting and trapping traditions and is in most circumstances allowable under the law.

Police chief Warren Riley couldn't be bothered to read Danziger report?~Jarvis DeBerry
~As well, this from James Gill

Sunday Slabbed

Sunday Funnies~Citizen K

Saints Caught in Clothing War
~New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is named in a brand new lawsuit, all centered around the motivational phrase he used to propel his team to win the Super Bowl -- "Finish Strong." According to legal papers filed in Illinois, the Finish Strong clothing company claims Brees only started using the phrase after he read the Finish Strong book, penned by the company's founder. Now, Finish Strong is going after Reebok -- claiming they violated their trademark ... and they want the judge to make Reebok fork over every cent they made off "Finish Strong".

Jews celebrate Purim in costume ~Bruce Nolan

Tennessee Williams Festival
~Po Boy Views New Orleans


The First Week of my Blog Tour
~Marylin's Musings


Book is guide to Alabama Civil Rights sites, monuments

Read the classic 'Fahrenheit 451' along with Eunice residents
~The Daily Advertiser


Abita's Strawberry Harvest Lager now on sale~Todd Price