Dimanche

Editilla's Response to
Nameless Tim Ruppert's Post:
"Exposed weaknesses"
I decided to publish my comment on Tim Ruppert's Nameless Blog, linked in the lede. As past president of the Louisiana ASCE, it is virtually incumbent upon poor Tim to tow the Corps' party line about the cause of the flooding of New Orleans, to wit: proffer anything and everyone but the unsound Levee Engineers of the USACE. Why? Because ASCE is da'Place for the Helpful Hardware Man--when yer'talkin Corps of Engineers Project Work. It is when they attempt their misdirection in public, indeed even upon my beloved Gentle'rillas on this very Ladder, that yer oh'so humble Editilla steps up to the plate with a Louisville #42.

Bravo? Hardly.
As an engineer, what do you think is exposed by the on-going and growing Leak in the 17th Street Canal Breach Repair, "just one flood wall" of many which breached due to Corps of Engineers admitted substandard design, implementation and maintenance?
I trust you have witnessed it? Perhaps not.

As an engineer, can you stick to the Engineering failures which Katrina exposed?
Your attempt to go from basic Engineering 101 (which the Corps failed with the building of our levees) to all the emotional pain and loss rent by that Federal Flood stinks of misdirection at best, dangerous bourgeois naiveté at its worst.
Why would you start a post on the engineering of Katrina only to end it with some smarmy reference to the wizard of OZ? What?
Engineers across the country are still trying find answers for the Corps' Negligent Homicide that "awful August" three years ago, when their levees failed and flooded my city and killed some of my friends. You, as a past president of the Louisiana ASCE, should know this as well as my father, a Ramblin'Wreck from Georgia Tech.
Perhaps you do, and therein lies da'rub.
Yellow brick road my ass! Jeez Louie!

It was not "just one flood wall" as you attempt to diminish, but many which failed to keep our city safe.

If you want to talk about the Engineering failures exposed by Katrina then fine. Tell us what is wrong with the 17th Street Canal Leak.
But please do not drag my friend Ashley's name into this fairy tale you would like to spin regarding the Federal Flood of New Orleans.
He was casualty #18 for me after the flood. And, ya'know...Ashley ate suck-ups like you for breakfast. And, ya'know another thing? I do not care that friends who love Ashley no longer love me for not loving you. I know where my heart broke, you asshole, just not where all the pieces fell. I no longer care who else I lose here. Why? Because Bad Engineering Kills The People That I Love and stupidly continues to endanger the City that I love.
Hence, those who support Bad Engineers, indeed those who may even stand to profit from further Bad Engineering Projects, are my sworn enemy. Because no one will ever again stand between me, my friends, my city and those levees with a Corps/ASCE press release in their hand. And no one is allowed to hawk the Corps/ASCE party line redirect about "Funding", "Patchwork Levees", "Muskrats", "Global Warming", "Katrina the Clown" or anything and everyone else but the Engineering behind this greatest civil works failure in the history of our nation.
You came to Rising Tide last year with a folksy geography lecture on polders. No answers from ASCE or Engineering perspectives on the Corp- built failed infrastructure. You guys knew even then in 2006 and you kept quiet about it, Tim Ruppert. As I said before, you may have swamped those Brave Conferees but not this Dirt Clod. I grew up in this delta, hunting vermin on the playground and know exactly what you are about. You tell stories when we need data. You would pull heart strings when we need a plum bob.
Though your perspective does resemble
"A Never Ending Story", this is no fairy tale.
This is no game of popular bloggers.
Do I sound like I five a rat's ass for your club?

I dare you to publish my comments here, to perchance show the testicular fortitude that you lacked when you attacked me and my opposition to the Corps of Engineers on my own blog without a name, link or proper calling card.

Remember, you passed the first lick, Ignoble Dick,
I will face your forked tongue one piece at a time.
...One Peace At A Time.

Sinn Féin
Editilla O'rilla d'Aphasia
Beotchwolfe

Attack of the Photoshopped Missiles ~Wired
Please go here to vote on this video

Over half of Corps of Engineers hurricane projects delayed in New Orleans ~S. Rosenthal

Arizona Reps. ask Corps for explanations over Santa Curz River’s label-switch from “navigable.”~U.S. Reps. Gabrielle Giffords and Raul Grijalva have sent separate letters to Assistant Secretary of the Army, John Paul Woodley Jr., requesting an immediate response as to why the Army Corps of Engineers chose to alter its designation of two sections of the Santa Cruz River as “navigable.”
In interviews a week ago, the Corps was unable to explain succinctly why all evidence of the study that declared the Santa Cruz as worthy of protection was removed from their Corps of Engineers Web site, and why the study was subject to a Corps policy review. Is that not Our website of Public Record?
~Right off hand, Editilla looks to what is left~
Real Estate, Insurance, Development...the three go together like Mo, Larry and Curly on Crystal Meth. Indeed, if we were to apply such an economic model to the Corps infrastructure management nationwide, the failure of their structures in such prime commercial locations as New Orleans and Louisiana (the nation's 2nd or 3rd busiest Port and major oil producer) or the Midwest, (our food, agricultural and ethanol basket) would beg the question of who ultimately benefits from those structures' Tax-Payer Funded Mandate,
to wit: Real Estate, Insurance and Development. Oh My!
Real Estate and Insurance and Development. Oh my!
Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My!

In order to get the levees certified, owners can either hire professional engineers or try to talk the state's congressional delegation into persuading the Corps of Engineers to do the certification, which would be good for five to 10 years.~Nancy Steinberger, regional hydraulic engineer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency office in Denver.
Steinberger told board members that only a small number of engineering firms nationwide are certifying levees because of the fear of getting sued if a dike breaks.
She said there is no provision yet for an extension of the two-year limit to get certified, despite the shortage of firms doing the work. Article here. [Emphasis all Editilla]

Perhaps this is why the Corps continues to delay the release of the IPET study until after hurricane season and re-prioritize Flood Control projects across Louisiana, and obfuscate about the ongoing and growing Leak at the 17th Street Canal Breach Repair. That is to say, as these court cases inevitably come up across the country with the remapping of municipal floodplains, do their dispositions build legal precedence in support of the Corps in their own Liability in the upcoming Lawsuit for the failure of their Navigable Waterway: MRGO and the Industrial Canal...and ultimately for the deaths of 1000s here in New Orleans, or across the Midwest? People are more important than Property,
according to Abel, though Cane begged to differ.
Obviously Editilla ain't no Lawya (nor Bible Scholar?:)
...but some of'da Ladda's best friends are Attorneys,
Practitioners of the Art, Obliterators of Small Print.
Can somebody call me da'fool and show where this
orgie de baise d'âne: USACE, ASCE, FEMA, NAIC, ADM is not an acronymical Anti-Trust Monopoly Porn Game with a stacked deck of "Chance" Cards?

Teaching Fish To Eat:
Your Tax Dollars At Work
~Sigmond, Carl and Alfred

Iraq's electricity-starved capital turns to solar
~Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Dorko, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Iraq, said the cost was prohibitive. D'OH! Cursed Funding Again!

NOLA (green) eyes advantage of Gulfport port expansion ~slabbed

I Fucking Hate the NOPD ~Gentilly Girl

TP, GAMBIT Endorse Millage ~Krewe of Truth
~KoT supports Time to Renew

Group recognizes area leaders
~Hurricane Katrina survivor Denise Thornton was honored Saturday night as New Orleans Civic Activist of the Year for her volunteer work post-Katrina.
This morning, though, Thornton and a small group of activists were scheduled to hit the road with more than $7,000 in gift cards for flood victims in hard-hit Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Option to buy open lots creates a buzz

It’s Official: Allstate is the Worst (According to AAJ)

Katrina has become disaster benchmark

Need a little help on'da Wet Bank

The Barfly's Secret

New Orleans: The River
~Terry Thornton

Open Letter to Clint Eastwood, Woody Allen & Bill Cosby ~Jazz.com

"It's everyone's responsibility to add to the swing." George Lewis