Bong! Bong! Bong!

[vraiblonde]

That sound you hear is the death knell of the Republican party:

http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/D8CKSTT80.html

The era of big government is back. President Bush is presiding over what is sure to be the most expensive government relief and reconstruction operation in U.S. history.

With estimates of the federal tab ranging up to $200 billion for rebuilding New Orleans and other storm-ravaged Gulf Coast cities, Bush and his Republican allies in Congress are casting aside budget discipline.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/15/D8CKS5504.html

Faced with the unprecedented destruction of a major U.S. city and communities across the Gulf Coast, President Bush _ with damaged New Orleans as his backdrop _ will offer a package of new federal aid to help uprooted hurricane victims.

 

[tomchamp]

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., proposed that Congress create a Gulf Coast Redevelopment Authority, modeled after the Tennessee Valley Authority, to oversee the reconstruction. TVA, created during the Depression as an independent federal agency, is widely credited with the revitalization of the seven-state Tennessee Valley region.

Something tells me this guy has a fear of drowning!

 

[K_Jo]

Very misleading title.

 

[donbarzini]

Something tells me this guy has a fear of drowning!

Nah....Jabba would float right to the top. But whoever's with him when it happens?...........

 

[hvp05]

That sound you hear is the death knell of the Republican party

Disappointing.

The first step it to STOP considering them victims. This is a psychological maneuver, more than anything, but the mindset must be changed or the fundamental problems that existed in LA/N.O. three weeks ago will only grow again.

They're also deferring - for now - vows to finish the Reagan revolution against big government and turning to some of the same kinds of public health, housing and job assistance programs they once criticized as legacies of the Democrats' New Deal and Great Society.

It seems to me there may be a positive way to employ people to assist the rebuilding... but they shouldn't expect the government (at any level) to simply cater every demand.

The most contradictory part of this [rebuilding] is that Nagin/Blanco are screeching with their mouths open, waiting for the feds to supply everything, but Nagin/Blanco want to be personally in charge of the actual effort. If you thought N'awlins was crumby three weeks ago, imagine how the city will be in a decade after two of the biggest dolts in recent history have steered the ship.

 

[2ndAmendment]

I still say building/rebuilding a city below sea level is stupid. Make it into our own Venice or abandon it and move to higher ground. Most of the sections that have been underwater for this long are probably going to be bulldozed anyway. If you have to start over, start over above sea level.

 

[hvp05]

I still say building/rebuilding a city below sea level is stupid.

Well, I can at last say I agree with you. (Two times might push it, though.)

New Orleans ... The New Atlantis? (21 Jan., 2001)

New Orleans is Sinking (11 Sep., 2001)

City founders knew the ground was unstable when they planted their roots. Today N.O. sinks at a rate up to 3 ft./century. Nagin/Blanco wish to appear valiant in their effort to rebuild, but, if they don't somehow address this elementary problem, history may well regard them as immensely incompetent fools.

 

[Lenny]

Listen to this possible scenario. The Democrats say "What will you cut in the budget to pay for this?" and Bush says "How about the Department of Education, half the Medicaid funding, and Head Start?" The Democrats say "Absolutely not, we will not go along with this." Bush then tells the electorate in 2006 "See, the Democrats don't 'feel your pain' anymore. Give me more Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives." And he wins.

If the Democrats say "Yes, we can do that." Bush gets what we all want and Bush wins.

 

[2ndAmendment]

..., history may well regard them as immensely incompetent fools.

To heck with history, I already regard them as immensely incompetent fools.

 

[gumby]

 

[Ken King]

I still say building/rebuilding a city below sea level is stupid. Make it into our own Venice or abandon it and move to higher ground. Most of the sections that have been underwater for this long are probably going to be bulldozed anyway. If you have to start over, start over above sea level.

Agreed, it makes no sense to just rebuild for a reoccurrence. How about this, we need a big hole to store our spent radioactive material in, New Orleans needs a sh!tload of dirt to be raised above sea-level, so why not just back fill the levees (plus a few feet) and then rebuild the city? Sounds like a no-brainer win-win.

 

[FromTexas]

Agreed, it makes no sense to just rebuild for a reoccurrence. How about this, we need a big hole to store our spent radioactive material in, New Orleans needs a sh!tload of dirt to be raised above sea-level, so why not just back fill the levees (plus a few feet) and then rebuild the city? Sounds like a no-brainer win-win.

Could always just ask the Netherlands for some advice.

 

[2ndAmendment]

Could always just ask the Netherlands for some advice.

Another disaster waiting for a time.

It does not matter how big you build the levies, dikes, or how many you build. An earthquake instead of a storm and all the water comes in again. An unprecedented storm and the water comes in again. A runaway ship and the water comes in again. A strategically place bomb or two and the water comes in again. The forces of nature can always overcome anything man can build. Devious people can devise a way.

 

[tikipirate]

Almost immediately after the hurricane, FOX, MSNBC, or the ilk interviewed an urban planner who seemed very squared away. She stated that New Orleans should never consider rebuilding unless the low-lying areas are filled in to bring them above sea level.

The idea is sound, but the size of the area may make it impractical. Where would we find enough unpolluted fill dirt? (Not in the Gulf of Mexico. The top 10 feet of the seabottom is oil tar and missing Louisiana politicians.)

 

[2ndAmendment]

Almost immediately after the hurricane, FOX, MSNBC, or the ilk interviewed an urban planner who seemed very squared away. She stated that New Orleans should never consider rebuilding unless the low-lying areas are filled in to bring them above sea level.

The idea is sound, but the size of the area may make it impractical. Where would we find enough unpolluted fill dirt? (Not in the Gulf of Mexico. The top 10 feet of the seabottom is oil tar and missing Louisiana politicians.)

There is another consideration; NO is still sinking and continues to sink currently at the rate of about 3 feet every 100 years. That is what happens when you build a city on silt.