xtcian

I agree with everything Ian just said, but I must add that the States don't have a monopoly on inefficiency -- which of course Ian and we all know, but I just wanted to segue to this image...

Phnom Penh's airport, July 2006: Eleven uniformed people -- 11! -- processed my passport before letting me go through Immigration. I handed it to one lady, who looked it over, then passed it down a line of inscrutable-looking folks (who simply passed it to the next person without even opening it), finally to a man who stamped something in it, then handed it to a man who looked inside at my name and then shouted out for me to retrieve it. What gives?!

But obviously that wasn't a life-and-death situation. N'Awlins needs serious help. For starters, let's give Hans Vrijling $10billion and let him work his magic.

The Trail Of Tears was a case of the US Government removing 17,000 Cherokee at gunpoints from their homes and forcing them to walk to Oklahoma. During the transfer, an unknown number of the Cherokee -- 2000, or 8000 depending on which study you look at -- died, or died of disease in camps before leaving.

The murders in New Orleans are almost all drug dealers killing each other over turf.

Now I'm as upset as you are about Katrina, Government Reaction, the shameful aftermath, but this comparison strikes me as somewhat ... Rumsfeldian?

The people who actually live (and die) in NOLA re-elected Nagin. It's like Homer Simpson repeatedly poking a screw driver into an electrical socket to see if he'll get keep getting shocked. Violent crime and a failed criminal justice system were slowly killing NOLA long before Katrina. Until that changes, there is little hope of recovery no matter how many levees you build.

Houston's murder rate soared after the Katrina refugees arrived. But in Texas they catch the killers and put them in prison.

I will call your bluff, Ian. Please provide a link to a single non-Leftie crackpot that is advancing the opinion that Bush may be intentionally neglecting New Orleans.

Second, when I took Poli Sci at Carolina, the professor taught me that Congress and each state's legislature controls the respective budgetary pursestrings. But, then again, that small little Constitutional factoid does not fit nicely into the "it's Bush's fault" paradigm.

Random thoughts: 1. In the past months you have blamed the White House and Rove for the Valerie Plame nonsense. Thoughts now that we know such a position is utter nonsense? 2. It was Bush's environmental policy's fault for worsening hurricanes and global warming. Latest estimates have significantly scaled back the appraisals of global warming and this is a very weak hurricane season (says me from Wilmington, NC)! I guess it's Bush's fault.

dook sucks.

A tad overwrought, Ian, but I agree that New Orleans appears to be in a state of blunder upon blunder upon blunder. I am grateful I spent a fabulous week in NOLA way before all this happened (early 1980s) but sad that my children won't ever see that place... and heartsick for the seemingly endless stream of Katrina victims.

New Orleans is/was one of the most polluted, impoverished, hot, greasy, gritty, crime ridden, drunk, prostitutin', strippin' city in the country. It is also my favorite city in the country. Once you take away most of the good things, you are left with the description in the first sentence; the way the majority of Americans saw the city. (Oh, of course, throw in black-) W may have partied there, but he's born again. Clinton would have fixed the place in a month.

I think there are two major insidious items at work- The mindset of profit and the rise of the individual over majority. We do not pursue long range benefit because of these two things. Along with the Marshall Plan remember that perhaps the more incredible achievement was to rebuild Japan into an economic powerhouse. It's amazing how well your country can do when it's defense needs are taken care of. I digress... Something about New Orleans makes it uneconomical to replace; maybe it's not the port of reknown as listed in the Statesman's Almanac, maybe it was simply the corrupt tax writeoff for many oil companies. We forget that it was the self proclaimed "city that care forgot". Seems they knew their place all along. It is apparently not profitable to rebuild New Orleans. As opposed to other destroyed places, such as Florida, New Orleans has steadily been losing population for years.

Then you gotta throw in the individual thing. I guarantee that if they increased the police count, there would be howls from many other municipalities. If they improve one highway or let the Army Corps run wild then every other flood prone place on the Mississippi would want equal share. This is a reflection of the individual constituents. Nagin was right, even the Bluest of Blue New York (sorry, I love you too) cannot unite in the Spirit of What Might Be Best or Even Passable for the WTC site. The rise of the individual leads to consensus based decisions. Hans from Holland cannot just bust in here like Billy Badass because our country doesn't allow that sort of situation to happen until "every stakeholder has had their position considered".

I apologize for the length of this comment, but there's more- The typical reader of this blog might hear a soundbite about 'Hans from Holland' or something similar which leaves out a serious amount of information that those outside of civil engineering may not know...it is no longer possible to construct civil projects without due process. For example, the longest single bridge span in NC is not being constructed along the outer banks or over some wide piedmont floodplain or some dramatic gorge, it is being constructed in Murphy. The agencies will not allow the bridge to constrict the floodplain, period. The Golden Gate bridge would very likely not be allowed today because of the 'intrusion on the viewshed'. No shit. This is not the reflection of some totally rightwing nutjob (only sorta), it is from someone who attends many civil project reviews and spends a shitload of your state and federal tax dollars every day. You will notice that the levees have been repaired, but not improved. The Army Corps of Engineers cannot improve the project without an Environmental Impact Statement. Those of you who fight civil projects know exactly what this means; it may be possible to prevent the levees from ever being improved. When I say fight civil projects, that is usually a left wing pursuit, it is also a correct pursuit: New Orleans does want to be a swamp, the Golden Gate does intrude on the viewshed, New York does not need another target and it is stupid to build another interstate loop around another souless American suburbia. The process to bring each of these examples to fruition is remarkably similar. Think about why you would support them or how you would explain your opposition to someone else who does. This is where these large projects are stuck.

I have been to post-K New Orleans twice. Since the anniversary, a number of anniversary documentaries have been screened. This has brought up much discussion.
Everytime someone talks about rebuilding New Orleans, images of (black) people looting or welfare mothers with many kids are brought to mind. This serves to quell further discussion.
I do understand how difficult it will be to rebuild the city while navigating the myriad of regulations on all levels of government. One of the reasons the Coast Guard was so effective during the rescue is that commanders told their charges to ignore the rules and just do what was best for the people.
I really do think this is a race issue.. people perceive that poor blacks must be criminals and that they must live in high rise slums. The fact is, most of the people are(were) homeowners and most lived in single family housing and had lived there for generations. Their homes and land were their only possessions.
As a homeowner in America, I can only hope that i would get more assistance from the other homeowners in America were I befalled with a tragedy of this nature. I just cannot understand why we are not helping these people more.

There have been many mistakes made in the past locally, and nationally and further neglect of looming issues for decades (poor schools, poorly built levees and corruption at all levels forever). It is time to put the bickering behind and let's more forward.

I hope New Orleans can be rebuilt to something like it was before. The longer we wait, the less likely that is to happen. There were 212 High Schools before the storm and now there are 20 something... This is where the musicians came from. It does not look good and I hate it. k

Ian, you're smart and compassionate and you write well. That said, this post and others make me think that you have a fundamental misunderstanding of the world's base level of competence. I envy you that; I really do. I think it's indicative of your spending your time mostly with upper-crusty smart people who are significantly more competent than the norm.

I estimate that dealing with incompetence eats up a good 20-30% of my workday. On a good day. And I'm a private-sector lawyer. I can't even imagine what it's like in other industries.

You've got plenty of experience with detached-and-witty observation; that's partially why I come here. But I have yet to read a post like this in which you articulate a plan of action and improvement in addition to simply stating that things are fucked up. This is probably my number one criticism of political criticism, in general.

BTW, I LOVED the "daddo's pantapoons" video, and kept thinking of it at 4 am when I couldn't get back to sleep.

I am no fan of GWB, but we cannot blame him for the situation in New Orleans, as tempting as it might be.
The crime problem is, as you all said, mostly drug-related, and the scary thing is that we have bands of parentless (most are still living elsewhere), homeless teenagers roaming the city armed with assault weapons and no value for life. Due to the fact that half of the city still consists of deserted, mold-ridden houses, there are many places to hide out and go unnoticed. Add to that mix a very depleted, disorganized, disheartened police dept., an ineffectual D.A., and corrupt judges, and you have THE perfect recipe for this soaring crime rate.

It is beyond frustrating to witness the glacial progress despite reading about millions and billions of dollars being poured into the city...I can't see where it's going.

We are a city of paradoxes right now with beauty and devastation, hope and despair, lying side-by-side. It makes me sad when AnneD. says her "children won't ever see that place." If the rest of the country has this attitude, then perhaps this city that has been known to welcome millions of visitors with arms wide open will not ever recover. Those of us who live in the city "that care forgot" don't want to be forgotten. And like an ailing patient who needs visitors to lift her spirits, so do we!

I know my post is off subject, but I'm trying to get the word out for thousands of horses. Today the House is voting on a bill to end the slaughter of horses. Please visit the link to the Humane Society and let your representatives know that we want to end the slaughter of these amazing animals. Thanks guys.

https://community.hsus.org/campaign/FED_2006_horses_cosponsorhouse6

DFB's&T's --

First off, the Plame outing was a political operation of the White House. Therefore Rove was directing it. "I've never been indicted" doesn't have the same ring as "I've done nothing wrong."

Second Off, where'd you get your bullshit 'global warming isn't as bad as we thought" statement? Newsmax?

Third, 'by their fruits ye shall know them.' I don't know how Bush feels about black people in New Orleans. But the way the poor people of NOLA were treated, the federal, state, and local governments might as well hate them -- if that is compassion, lord save us all.

High and dry, out of the rain
Its so easy to hurt others when you cant feel pain
And dont you know that a love cant grow
cause theres too much to give, cause youd rather live
For the thrill of it all, oh

Youre a rich girl, and you've gone too far
cause you know it don't matter anyway

[comment edited by moderator]

Fixed the lie/lay grammatical issue, thanks to Annie and my mom.

Kent, the total number of people dead because of Katrina and the aftermath is almost as many who died on 9/11. Almost 2,000 dead, and 500 more missing.

I don't blame GWB entirely for this situation, which is why I simply asked why we couldn't elect people who could have the intellect and efficiency to fix this situation. For NOLA, I don't care if it's a Democrat or a Republican or a higher life form from Alpha Centauri, as long as somebody cares enough to get it done.

Jody - Excellent info, as always. Always love your insights, and never worry about being long.

Anne D. - I don't think it would be considered overwrought if we were all writing from the Lower Ninth Ward. Can't somebody get emotional about this?

Kent:
The conservative strongholds (ha!) Washington Post and David Broder have the following column today: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/06/AR2006090601648_pf.html

The conservative mouthpiece The Australian(ha!) has the following article: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20332352-601,00.html. Global warming remains a very thorny issue. But, if some bloggers are willing to claim GWB caused it, then should he also get some credit for making it better than was once thought? Let's be fair.

See? You ask me for a source and you get it. Still waiting on a non-Leftie loon's article claiming GWB intentionally screwed NOLA.

By the way, enough about the lack of compassion. Look up the amount of money that Americans gave to NOLA and it is staggering. It is enough to pay each victim (dead or otherwise) a staggering amount of money. I know that is a morbid way to look at the numbers, but I am simply saying that there has been no lack of compassion! The compassion of the American people has known no bounds regarding Katrina or the tsunami.

Does Nagin hate black people? Does the governor hate poor black people? Does the LA Sen hate por black people? They are all Democrats, by the way, so all the blame skips them?! Plus, why is that the devastation that also reached Mississippi has been handled so much better? I can't say that it is because of Republican governor and Republican Senator, but damn if the difference in the 2 situation isn't startling. Yeah, yeah, I know that NOLA has more widespread damage, but Miss has certainly handled their devastated areas better!

Besides exposing a shameful under-layer of the poorest of the poor in our city, the storm also served to expose the most inept political system in the U.S. at both state and city level...a deeply entrenched inept political system. That's why Mississippi is improving quicker than we are.

Where is our passion?
It's being slowly eroded day by day as any progress is hardly noticeable. We live the sad stories of Katrina over and over again each and every day. There are reminders everywhere, especially in the faces of those who have lost so much and even in those who have lost, comparatively speaking, little. As a city, we have ALL lost too much to describe. Over one million people have had their lives re-arranged without input or permission. Many of us will be better off with new opportunities, but others may never recover. Passion has changed to compassion and the best thing we can do for each other is to listen to each other's stories. My heart hurts for old New Orleans, but lives with hope for new New Orleans.

I grew up in Cape Girardeau, Missouri where there is a place called Trail of Tears State Park. I have many fond memories of hiking and fishing there with my family. So thank you for that reference today; I probably haven't thought of that place in 20 years.

Another totally off subject, random thought for Sean and Jordana. My 7 year old son is a Star Wars fanatic. He owns most of the Star Wars Lego sets, and every time he shows me something, or mentions Star Wars in some way, I get a mental image of Danielle jumping around the stage in a gold Princess Leia outfit. It makes me giggle. Air Guitar was awesome - did it win best musical?

The fact that Armitage may have been the "Ground Zero" leaker doesn't change anything. Rove was certainly involved in the smear campaign on Joseph Wilson -- he practically invented the "don't rebut, go after the messenger" school of political discourse. I don't care if Scooter Libby gets off -- aside from being in league with the posse of shitheads running the country, he always seemed a decent guy. And just like a conservative, you cite an opinion piece instead of hard news, because it's what you feel, not what you know that matters, right? Broder's a tool.

As for "The Australian," it's a Murdoch paper which frequently publishes anti-global warming propoganda, written by the hacks paid by energy and manufacturing corporations.

Umm, I'm *still* watching "Daddo's Pantaboons" several times daily.

Facts, Kent. Please!