Thursday, September 01, 2005
Blame Games
There are frustrated rumbles of talk about whose to blame about New Orleans getting flooded.
I know having lived there, that the situation was created over a wide number of administrations, back into the mid-60s, and the situation involved Federal, state and local decisions.
One interesting tidbit in the blame game is this:
In 1998, the DoD and the US Army Corps of Engineers drafted a document detailing the fact that New Orleans was protected by levees which were designed to protect N.O. from a LEVEL 3 hurricane. These groups wanted to go into N.O. and assess what needed to be done to improve the levees to at least withstand a LEVEL 4 OR 5 hurricane.
This serious request and supporting information was deemed highly necessary to protect N.O. and was presented in full to the President of the United States for approval of this critical project.
THE REQUEST WAS DENIED BY WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON. For those interested in the details, they are available in the FEDERAL REGISTER as a matter of permanent record.
Lots of hands can be slapped in the blame game. Mayor Schiro and President Johnson after Hurricane Betsy, for instance. It was in this time period the decision to protect against a category 3 was made. Betsy was a three. Then there was all the draining of the wetlands in and around New Orleans, the building of the intracostal waterway, and the reaction of the Army Corps of Engineers to the flooding in 1920, and the lack of ability of any government in Louisiana to deal with the salt water destruction of the marshlands which protected the cities near the coast.
Blame them all. What works better is rolling up one's sleeve, see what lessons can be learned, and do the right thing NOW.
I am working on a blog site just for hurricane news and information. Not upline yet, but will be in a day or two.
Join me in thinking about the suffering and what can be done to help. Forget about blame games and work on fixit solutions. Our fellow brothers and sisters need us.
I know having lived there, that the situation was created over a wide number of administrations, back into the mid-60s, and the situation involved Federal, state and local decisions.
One interesting tidbit in the blame game is this:
In 1998, the DoD and the US Army Corps of Engineers drafted a document detailing the fact that New Orleans was protected by levees which were designed to protect N.O. from a LEVEL 3 hurricane. These groups wanted to go into N.O. and assess what needed to be done to improve the levees to at least withstand a LEVEL 4 OR 5 hurricane.
This serious request and supporting information was deemed highly necessary to protect N.O. and was presented in full to the President of the United States for approval of this critical project.
THE REQUEST WAS DENIED BY WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON. For those interested in the details, they are available in the FEDERAL REGISTER as a matter of permanent record.
Lots of hands can be slapped in the blame game. Mayor Schiro and President Johnson after Hurricane Betsy, for instance. It was in this time period the decision to protect against a category 3 was made. Betsy was a three. Then there was all the draining of the wetlands in and around New Orleans, the building of the intracostal waterway, and the reaction of the Army Corps of Engineers to the flooding in 1920, and the lack of ability of any government in Louisiana to deal with the salt water destruction of the marshlands which protected the cities near the coast.
Blame them all. What works better is rolling up one's sleeve, see what lessons can be learned, and do the right thing NOW.
I am working on a blog site just for hurricane news and information. Not upline yet, but will be in a day or two.
Join me in thinking about the suffering and what can be done to help. Forget about blame games and work on fixit solutions. Our fellow brothers and sisters need us.
# posted by Knitting a Conundrum @ 10:45 AM 
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Nice post. Although there is plenty of blame that can be thrown around, none of it is going to make New Orleans any drier.
We need to look for future solutions, not past problems as those can only change the present.
We need to look for future solutions, not past problems as those can only change the present.
You said what I used lots of words to say.
The past doesn't matter. What matters now is doing something for the situation NOW.
The past doesn't matter. What matters now is doing something for the situation NOW.
Hey! Not sure if you ever check your blog here, but just in case, I just wanted to tell you that I have started a conservative digg alternative called GOP Hub (gophub.com). I wanted to invite you to come over and check it out, and feel free to join up and participate. Plus you can submit any articles your write here on your blog. Take care and have a great rest of the week :).
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