Saturday, January 7, 2012

Don't Stop Now~Library Chronicles

Just as New Orleans Saints did in 2006, Detroit Lions lifting the spirits of a city
~Bob Marshall
~We've been there, Detroit. We lived it for 12 agonizing months after sub-standard federal levees collapsed, turning a hurricane named Katrina into a record-setting disaster and killing 1,400 of our neighbors. Their bodies were still floating in the streets, wedged in attics when the insults began, from the talk-radio oracles and even national politicians. "Why would you live there? Why spend money fixing that city? The people are crazy to move back. It should be moved. If they want to live there, they should help themselves. All they want is a handout." It continued as we buried our dead, gutted our houses, reopened our schools and businesses. It became such a constant refrain -- following us even on vacations and business travel - we gave up responding. We became resigned to the fact that it would always be "open season" on our city. Then the 2006 NFL season opened.

Surging Saints a tough playoff draw for Detroit~Brett Martel

LSU fans take tailgating to the extreme

River Birch Landfill's clout seen in federal legislation

La. AG challenges ruling in Gulf oil spill cases

Beat the Crowds: Visitor Alternatives for New Orleans~He Said/She Said NOLA

Friday, January 6, 2012

The truth, gosh…it’s just “so long and so complicated…” ~Disenfranchised Citizen
~And academically speaking, it’s got to be hard to be Board Chairwoman, Glenna Kramer, so I have taken it upon myself to offer up the text of a marker, text I think she would certainly approve of, and I doubt will offend anyone, unless they were to care at all about what happened in Louisiana at the breach site of the 17th Street Canal and the East side North breach site of the Industrial Canal, but anyways, here goes: “At this site, on some date, something happened, which caused a lot of other things to happen, bad things, though none of these bad things came as a result of anyone’s fault because tragedies are sometimes like that, blameless. And so we remember the loss of life, of homes, of community and confidence we once shared that bad things such as the kind that happened here, wouldn’t ever actually happen, and will hopefully never happen again.”

Nomination for Katrina breach sites sparks debate ~Kevin McGill

Final version of Corps MO River flood plan

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/06/3356159/nomination-for-katrina-breach.html#storylink=cpy

Coastal plan to be released next week

~Nikki Buskey, Daily Comet


Happy King Day! Let the Good Times Roll!

JoanFest! 6 Joans of Arc Celebrate Patron Saint's 600th Birthday

We took a little bacon and we took a little beans. We caught the bloody British in the town of New Orleans ~NOLA DEFENDER

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Welcome To The (Mercedes-Benz) Terrordome ~moosedenied
~Photo: Wesley Hitt, Getty Images, via our buds at Bleacher Report

Drew Brees on the cover of Sports Illustrated! Mag picks New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl!

Our amazing Saints: An editorial

To New Orleans police, innocent until proven guilty doesn't apply to victims~James Gill

Levees.org Continues Drive for Federal Markers at Katrina Levee Breaches ~WWNO

Corps of Engineers finagles itself into MS Levee Board to bring back huge Boondoggle Pump Project?~The Board of Mississippi Levee Commissioners appealed a Mississippi federal judge's dismissal of its lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments Feb. 9. The levee board wants to move forward with the Yazoo Backwater Project, a proposed pump station to drain wetlands, farmland and forests north of Vicksburg when the MS River is high.

Competing Conflicts of Interest cause Gulf Coast Claims Facility to suspend payments: A periodic report from the gutter where its all going down ~Slabbed

Dear Carl, I thought what we had was special
~Disenfranchised Citizen


GCCF suspending payments for BP losses

Louisiana businesses slapped with $2.5 million in pollution penalties
~Mark Schleifstein


New Orleans man gets prison for role in Clementine Hunter art forgery plot

foburg.film Festival now accepting submissions ~Gambit

~Hat Tweet New rum distillery under construction in Lacassine, LA.

St. James Cheese News!

Cooking With Wine ~Blackened Out

Oh Yeah! Creole Turtle Soup~Ponchartrain Pete

Parasol's and Tracey's battle for Irish Channel roast beef po-boy supremacy
~Brett Anderson
~Hat Tweet @nolamaven

Poland Band Heading to New Orleans

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Governor-appointed Board in Louisiana Says Levee Breach Sites Not Historic
Six members of a governor-appointed board in Louisiana recently voted against placing the sites of two catastrophic levee breaches in New Orleans during Katrina on the National Register of Historic Places. Two-thirds of the 9-member state Review Board voted down the flood protection group Levees.org’s quest to list the breach of the 17th St. Canal and the east side north breach site of the Industrial Canal to the prestigious Register.
“The board members signaled that they didn’t believe the sites of the worst civil engineering disaster in U.S. history were historic,” said Sandy Rosenthal, founder of Levees.org.
Some board members said they were ‘uncomfortable’ with the nomination text because it faulted the Army Corps of Engineers for the levee and floodwall failures. Several members thought the text contained too much information.
“You have made this very difficult for us,” noted Board Chairwoman Glenna Kramer of Franklin. “It’s so long and so complicated.”

Despite the Board’s 3-yes, 6-no vote, the State Historic Preservation Officer, Ms. Pam Breaux and her staff continues to support the eligibility of the two breach sites.
On December 29, Ms. Breaux confirmed that she has sent Levees.org’s 39-page nomination along with her letter of support and other documents pertinent to the breach sites’ eligibility to the Corps of Engineer’s Federal Preservation Officer in Washington, DC. This is in accordance with regulations 36 CFR 60 which govern the National Register process.
“We believe the document to be procedurally and professionally correct,” stated Ms. Breaux in her cover letter to the FPO.

According to Ms. Nicole Hobson-Morris, executive director of the State Preservation Office, the state Review Board does not have the final say. “We will be sending the nomination to the FPO,” said Ms. Hobson-Morris. “We will also send all 44 letters of support for the nomination including U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu’s letter.”
Mark Barnes, consultant to Levees.org noted that sending the nomination text to the FPO is an appropriate step. “It’s an attempt to obtain a solid statement of support for the nomination from the corps or not, “ said Mr. Barnes.

According to regulations, the corps’ Federal Preservation Officer, Mr. Terrence Salt has 60 days to respond with the federal agency’s position on the eligibility of the two levee breach sites. Click here for cover letter from Ms. Pam Breaux to the Federal Preservation Office.
To see who voted and their comments click here for transcript of Review Committee Meeting.
To see who submitted letters of support click here.

Founded in November 2005 by Sandy Rosenthal and her then 15-year old son, Stanford Rosenthal, Levees.org is a flood protection advocacy group devoted to education about the true cause of the catastrophic flooding in the New Orleans region during Katrina.

~Editilla What the Hellas~ Sorry y'all, but Ah gotta step in heah. Correct me if Ah'm wrong, this is the State HISTORICAL Review Board, right?
Mah lovely step-mother, rest her soul, was a History Professor at Delta State University mah entire life and I can remember her saying one day, "A 'History' by definition is a simple story to many people, yet our pursuit of it involves -at least- complicated dedication." Ah'm just wondering what is the Fickn Problem here wit'dees faux history buffs on this pseudo Hysterical Review Committee?
Now, I've read the Levees.org proposal Twice, and bare in mind Ah had 2 strokes during this in December, and Ah got it just fine. Ah'm jes'sayin... Ah have certified brain damage and did not have any trouble with Getting the levees.org proposal.
Indeed, back in the August Heat, we went to Baton Rouge to witness the FIRST full powerpoint presentation by Mrs, Rosenthal to this band of hayseeds. (It should be noted here, but Mrs Rosenthal is a nice Lady, that the Corps stepped in, like schoolyard punks, at the last minute, with their own erroneous property ownership issues to scuttled the entire presentation that day. Yet, Mrs Rosenthal bravely soldiered on with it for the Committee, and had to return a few months later with Exactly the same presentation --to which these History Rogues thumbed their provincially ignorant noses.) Yes, it is thick with Data, incredibly copious details about Exactly what happened and where. Indeed, the NRHP requires nothing less. They encourage the nominator to include As Much Detail As Possible. It's the way these things work. This is the Only Way these things work.
Levees.org had to have put in WEEKS/MONTHS pouring over geographical GIS maps, cultural HISTORY, city plats, photographs, geotechincal studies, court rulings, expensive title searches, whateva the NRHP wanted --and they want it all! High Five to Sandy Rosenthal and her krewe! This is what it means to FINISH STRONG in The City the Care Forgot and the Goddamned Exquisite Corps of Engineers Left For Dead!

Yet, our State Hysterical Review Committee seems to be dominated by Lazy Historians! They must hail from Yankee North Louisiana or other boondock environs of the tragically ill-bred, badly medicated Nola-haters. Our State Hysterical Committee members look at History and say "EWE! THIS IS TOO COMPLICATED!" Our State Hysterical Committee members look at History and simply stick their heads in the sandy levees.
To these boorish white-sock wearing nimnybobs in Baton Rouge Ah say: FYYFFs!

Exonerated death row inmate John Thompson digs for the roots of New Orleans crime epidemic~Jed Horn, The Lens

Owen Courreges: The inner workings of the speed traps ~Uptown Messenger

FKN MFKRs! GCCF claimants ordered to pay federal lawsuit attorneys 6 percent

Reason #183 BP’s cleanup was about PR from the very beginning ~Disenfranchised Citizen

BP money buys sports towels, Xmas lights, jingles

Hesco Baskets helping coastal restoration, its original us ~WWLTV

Mardi Gras goes green if resident has her way
~The VerdiGras All-Green Ball, on Jan. 21 from 8 p.m. to midnight at the Southport Music Hall in Jefferson, will include music by The Susan Cowsill Band. The ball will be preceded by a patron party from 7 to 8 p.m. with food by New Orleans chef Robert Bruce. Tickets are $30 per person or $50 per couple; or $100 for the patron party.

Vote on sale of LA drinking water to TX looms

Besh’s Borgne to open next week in Hyatt Regency ~Ian McNulty, Gambit