Yes NOLA Gal, we get your point – there are a lot of idiots out there. I’ve never lived in a flood plain, or tornado alley or on top of a fault line with a history of violent quakes. I don’t plan on it either. When the French built New Orleans they built above the high tide mark. It should have stayed there. But we had to go below sea level – those builders were idiots. People who get struck by multiple hurricanes and keep rebuilding in the same area are idiots. People who build below the high water mark of major rivers prone to flooding are idiots. It’s one thing to get hit by an unforeseen disaster. It’s quite another to invite it.
Because the “Corps” will get paid no matter what the results: a catastrophe that kills thousands and wipes out property; mediocrity; something that has to be repaired continuously; well, you get the point. This should be government’s new slogan: “Join the government where if you fail, you get more money & power. Abandon all responsibility and integrity.”
Mr. High & Mighty, your statement “abandon all responsibility and integrity” when one joins the government is quite descriptive of the current administration. What many of us found refreshing is that the Army Corps has at least been honest and held its own performance accountable — unlike the large corporate mercenaries in Iraq (and New Orleans), where the Pentagon says there’s over $19.2 BILLION unaccounted for. It’s a sorry thing, but given the option between incompetent and corrupt (Halliburton, KBR, Blackwater, etal) and merely incompetent (Army Corps), I’ll take the Corps. How’s that for a backhanded endorsement?
How about letting it flood so the ultimate restoration can take place? Those who want to live there can build on pilings like they do in the tropics & go to & from in pontoon boats. Gotta give the Corps credit thought, at least they admitted it.
Mary: What’s your problem? Do you have any idea how long the earthen levees held up around New Orleans? Nothing lasts forever and considering they were build without benefit of modern materiels and techniques, I’d say they did damn well for many decades. The only mistake was made early on when some idiots decided to build a city BELOW SEA LEVEL in a prime hurricane target zone. It was too expensive to retro-fit and simply “broke”. In the Florida mess, it was CIVILIAN contractors that did the crappy work. Granted the Corps. was the project manager. Considering all of the other fiascos that are going on i.e. Mattel, piling-on to the Corps. is unwarranted.
Dread, you haven’t actually read the Army Corps’ report on the failure of the levee system in New Orleans, or any of the newspaper articles about it, have you. The Corps admitted in the report that the system provided an “incomplete and inconsistent patchwork of protection, containing flaws in design and construction, and not built to handle a hurricane anywhere near the size of Katrina.” Katrina was a category 2/3 when it reached NOLA. Another quote from the Corps’ report that pretty well sums it up: “The hurricane protection system in New Orleans and southeast Louisiana was a system in name only.”
The Corps clearly does not share your passionate but inaccurate list of excuses.
For the record: when founded, NOLA was above sea level. So, who were the “idiots” who built and rebuilt cities with a combined population greater than 10 million on the San Andreas fault? The “idiots” who built cities like St. Louis and every other river city that has flooded? The “idiots” who live in Tornado Alley? The “idiots” who’ve built cities all over the New Madrid Fault in the center of the country? Get my drift here, Dread?
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Yes NOLA Gal, we get your point – there are a lot of idiots out there. I’ve never lived in a flood plain, or tornado alley or on top of a fault line with a history of violent quakes. I don’t plan on it either. When the French built New Orleans they built above the high tide mark. It should have stayed there. But we had to go below sea level – those builders were idiots. People who get struck by multiple hurricanes and keep rebuilding in the same area are idiots. People who build below the high water mark of major rivers prone to flooding are idiots. It’s one thing to get hit by an unforeseen disaster. It’s quite another to invite it.
Gee, is this the same Corps of Engineers responsible for the levees on the Mississippi? Why am I not shocked?
Because the “Corps” will get paid no matter what the results: a catastrophe that kills thousands and wipes out property; mediocrity; something that has to be repaired continuously; well, you get the point. This should be government’s new slogan: “Join the government where if you fail, you get more money & power. Abandon all responsibility and integrity.”
Mr. High & Mighty, your statement “abandon all responsibility and integrity” when one joins the government is quite descriptive of the current administration. What many of us found refreshing is that the Army Corps has at least been honest and held its own performance accountable — unlike the large corporate mercenaries in Iraq (and New Orleans), where the Pentagon says there’s over $19.2 BILLION unaccounted for. It’s a sorry thing, but given the option between incompetent and corrupt (Halliburton, KBR, Blackwater, etal) and merely incompetent (Army Corps), I’ll take the Corps. How’s that for a backhanded endorsement?
How about letting it flood so the ultimate restoration can take place? Those who want to live there can build on pilings like they do in the tropics & go to & from in pontoon boats. Gotta give the Corps credit thought, at least they admitted it.
Mary: What’s your problem? Do you have any idea how long the earthen levees held up around New Orleans? Nothing lasts forever and considering they were build without benefit of modern materiels and techniques, I’d say they did damn well for many decades. The only mistake was made early on when some idiots decided to build a city BELOW SEA LEVEL in a prime hurricane target zone. It was too expensive to retro-fit and simply “broke”. In the Florida mess, it was CIVILIAN contractors that did the crappy work. Granted the Corps. was the project manager. Considering all of the other fiascos that are going on i.e. Mattel, piling-on to the Corps. is unwarranted.
Dread, you haven’t actually read the Army Corps’ report on the failure of the levee system in New Orleans, or any of the newspaper articles about it, have you. The Corps admitted in the report that the system provided an “incomplete and inconsistent patchwork of protection, containing flaws in design and construction, and not built to handle a hurricane anywhere near the size of Katrina.” Katrina was a category 2/3 when it reached NOLA. Another quote from the Corps’ report that pretty well sums it up: “The hurricane protection system in New Orleans and southeast Louisiana was a system in name only.”
The Corps clearly does not share your passionate but inaccurate list of excuses.
For the record: when founded, NOLA was above sea level. So, who were the “idiots” who built and rebuilt cities with a combined population greater than 10 million on the San Andreas fault? The “idiots” who built cities like St. Louis and every other river city that has flooded? The “idiots” who live in Tornado Alley? The “idiots” who’ve built cities all over the New Madrid Fault in the center of the country? Get my drift here, Dread?