tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7082887.post112568694619667552..comments2023-10-30T07:39:04.857-07:00Comments on Random Thoughts- Do They Have Meaning?: National Geographic on the N.O. LeveesJack Steinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16625864271071630940noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7082887.post-1125811896926181172005-09-03T22:31:00.000-07:002005-09-03T22:31:00.000-07:00Anonymous,So you are going to take the word of a c...Anonymous,<BR/><BR/>So you are going to take the word of a civilian hack over an engineer.<BR/><BR/>Why not read more and you will see that this is a problem that preceded Bush by years and years.<BR/><BR/>Not to mention the significance of this quote <I>Until the day before Katrina's arrival, New Orleans's 350 miles (560 kilometers) of levees were undergoing a feasibility study to examine the possibility of upgrading them to withstand a Category Four or Five storm.<BR/><BR/>Corps officials say the study, which began in 2000, will take several years to complete.<BR/><BR/>Upgrading the system would take as long as 20 to 25 years, according to Al Naomi, the Corps' senior project manager for the New Orleans District. </I><BR/><BR/>The bottom line is that it would not have mattered if the funding had been cut, it would have been too little too late.Jack Steinerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16625864271071630940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7082887.post-1125772746426112192005-09-03T11:39:00.000-07:002005-09-03T11:39:00.000-07:00wait let me get this straight- so an official stat...wait let me get this straight- so an official stated that the lack of funding for repair or rebuilding of the levee was not a problem...funny I thought prevention would have been a good idea<BR/>read this:http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2005/08/31/disaster_preparation/index_np.html<BR/><BR/>A year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed to study how New Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic hurricane, but the Bush administration ordered that the research not be undertaken. After a flood killed six people in 1995, Congress created the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, in which the Corps of Engineers strengthened and renovated levees and pumping stations. In early 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a report stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in U.S., including a terrorist attack on New York City. But by 2003 the federal funding for the flood control project essentially dried up as it was drained into the Iraq war. In 2004, the Bush administration cut the Corps of Engineers' request for holding back the waters of New Orleans' Lake Pontchartrain by more than 80 percent. Additional cuts at the beginning of this year (for a total reduction in funding of 44.2 percent since 2001) forced the Corps to impose a hiring freeze. The Senate had debated adding funds for fixing New Orleans levees, but it was too late.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7082887.post-1125745639407001802005-09-03T04:07:00.000-07:002005-09-03T04:07:00.000-07:00Seeing the footage of those locked in the New Orle...Seeing the footage of those locked in the New Orleans bathtub, you can't fail to notice that almost all victims left are black or hispanic. 'Melting pot' my ass. The US is as divided as ever.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com