Last post on this subject this week, I promise. The Times-Picayune's Mark Schliefstein reports on the visit of the White House Council on Environmental Quality's chairperson, Nancy Sutley, to New Orleans (a visit paired alongside the President's own). We are ten months into the administration, the facts about the degradation of Louisiana's coastal wetlands and the construction and design flaws in the levee "system" that disastrously failed in 2005 have all been well known and on the public record for some time, and here's what Chair Sutley said yesterday:
"For me, this is the start of a dialogue, the start of a partnership for the Obama administration," Sutley said, adding that there's "a real commitment on the part of the administration to see these processes through, to understand the science, to understand the priorities, and as I heard this morning, certainly the message of urgency is one I will take back with me to Washington."
Never too late to start up. There is, in line with this spirit of urgency, a "new" White House working group on issues of coastal restoration in Mississippi and Louisiana. Warp speed, baby. Whiplash time. But okay, let's start the stopwatch on this message of urgency...
Follow Harry Shearer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/letwits
Forgive me, but I need to dropout of our scene. Honestly, my health has suffered from the emotions I feel when even thinking of or hearing mention of our most pressing issues. My family's current financial problems are because of my overly obsessive behavior trying to right the wrongs for our city.
I've been obsessed with trying to help my city and people recover from the federal levee failures since September 12, 2005 after my second return home. I feel like I might have helped some people and neighborhoods in-re housing, in correcting myths, and a little bit at having our city treated fairly when it comes to wetland restoration and storm surge protection.
Many of you can juggle and multitask at the same time. I cannot even chew gum when riding a bike.
I'll never lose my passion for our city and its recovery. To those who continue working for the life and death important issues for New Orleanians, you have my very best regards and I wish you all the luck in the world. I have to try to stop, for now at least.
-crescentCityRay.
Take good care of yourself and your family, and thanks for helping me get a feel for what a great city NO is and will continue be.
After all, it is starting to be "gumbo party" season.
'Das a quote, y'all!
Now __ __ __ __. or get off the pot. The problem ain't going away.
If we as a society intend to protect New Orleans, then we have to put up the money. That means no borrowing from other countries. We can do this if we don't let ignoramuses impede progress.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/editorialcommentary/story/E147A10B075B9B01862576490080E14D?OpenDocument
"After flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans,,,"
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/illinoisnews/story/4AA72F4B0D7FBABF862576460009AA72?OpenDocument
If the Congressional delegations of Missouri, Illinois, and Louisiana were to join forces, along with the Governors, to lobby for a massive change in this government agency, would we all have a chance to correct their errors, and save property and lives in the future?
Even if I didn't have many friends and loved ones on both side of the Ponchartrain, I'd still be asking.....Are we really so disconnected from the value (and safety) of our people, land and history to stand idle another year?
Good heavens, I almost fell out of the chair with the above stated quote, so "Jackson Square"-ish, if you know what I mean.
Not a balloon story anywhere on the frontpage. However, the "cables" went balloon crazy before the President left the ground, robbing New Orleans and the region of the much needed attention deserved and required.
Mattie, please let me say that not everyone is against a persons opinion....simply because you are not afraid to "call out the obvious" yes Mattie some people may "believe that they own President Obama" some people may try to downplay real "opinions". Soon their will be other "blogs" (political) that will be available for ALL people to "express their "views " of what is and what is not. some of us feel that we were "betrayed"
But I can assure you that the time is coming when politicians will have to "earn" their vote and these votes not be taken for granted.We may be slow learners but we are learning non the less....
As for all you so called "experts" y'all can "check my spelling.........
Who do you people think you are? you go from one THING to the NEXT!!!! you people are NOT running this country?
We have the Gay Right's Movement! who is keeping them from doing what they want to do? not the President! he has too much on his Plate!!! do you people see Black Folk's in Washington Marching around1 NO!!! and their is plenty we can MARCH about!!!! but No! we have to sit back and watch how the WHITE REP/CON, DEM, LIB, PROG, are TRYING to BRING the PRESIDENT DOWN!!!! you people are all over the place COMPLAINING!!!!
What a SELFISH GROUP of American's! from the moment the President was Inaugurated, White Folk's wanted their Pound of Flesh!!!! the PEOPLE for him and against him!!!!
Where were YOU people when BUSH was in office? you people allowed this man to leave office SCOTT FREE!!! and know you want the President to be SUPER MAN!!!
I would suggest that YOU people get some place and REGROUP!!!
People who listened to his promises.
It's also easy for many, apparently, to be cavalier about this issue and call for patience while the government studies the merit of individual projects and sets its priorities, all the while glossing over the comprehensive and urgent nature of the problem.
I was kind of hoping that President Obama would have made an announcement in New Orleans that he was appointing yet another czar in the person of one Dr. Ivor van Heerden. Now THAT would have impressed me!
But, I’m with you Harry...let’s put a stopwatch on the Obama-Biden administration’s message of urgency and see how long it takes to produce a comprehensive and viable plan for action to save a great American city from being devoured by the Gulf of Mexico, literally!
And, let’s hope they understand that time is the enemy.
Love ya Harry!
Nobody in the upper 47 states understands what has happened to the Mississippi basin since 1900.
To control seasonal flooding they have walled in the M river from Illinois to the Gulf. It sounds good, but the downside is that topsoil that used to be left along the river now ends up in the deep water of the Gulf.
This is an especially bad problem in S Louisiana. Salt water essentially melts the coastal marshes. so without annual replenishment by river mud they disappear. Salt water melts marsh mud because the salt ions make clay particles float away. We need those marshes if we want to eat fish and shrimp because that is where the juveniles develop.
When i was in the eighth grade they took us to see the Corps of Engineers model of the Mississippi River, in a long building at Vicksburg, MS. I think the Corps has replaced it with computers, but back then they had a working simulation of flood control projects from Cairo, Il, to the Gulf. They tested flood control projects by spraying water on the model -- very analog.
"I wish I could just write a check," he said. "You say, why not? There's this whole thing about the Constitution." He added that in Washington, "everyone will attack you for spending money, unless you are spending it on them."
This is eerily like his comments, twice, about his grandmother. "I would have paid out of pocket for that hip replacement just because she's my grandmother" he said once, during a discussion about Medicare reductions, implying maybe Medicare should not have paid. In New Orleans, his comment about the check is also governmental, he cannot just "write a check" on a government account. Of course he is empowered to direct funds to NO, but I believe he, and his circles, think of NO as, Grandma. She was a dear old gal, time for her to meet granpa in heaven, no?
Aw, man! I think my blood pressure is elevated again. I'm going to go chill at Lafayette Park tomorrow. I hope I can sleep tonight.