Ghost Plan for a Ghost Town (New Orleans)

NRO ^ | September 06, 2005 | Chris Regan & Bryan Preston

[Dysart]

Another bokkmark for ltr. Many Thanks.

[fso301]

Right on target.

[thegreatbeast]

A good piece that puts it all together with citations and everything.
One fault that I am noticing everywhere: Where is the personal responsibility? Why didn't people put their own supply of water by for the duration? Food for a few days? You know that they had to have been advised to do so.

[spycatcher]

Sounds like a plan...not!

[sodpoodle]

Great paper - Nagin and Blanco must be extremely stupid and ignorant to screw up so badly. Louisiana surely got a twofer at the wrong time.

Most family picnics are better organized. Even with competing Aunt Jessie and cousin Edith, they cooperate to get the job done for the benefit of the whole family.

Nagin and Blanco are a disgrace to the hard earned reputation of American ingenuity.

jmho
sp

[IronJack]

Those floods used to literally raise the dead: The water table is so shallow in the Mississippi delta that even a slight rain would make buried coffins float.

Bunk. Coffins are not generally watertight, and the wooden coffins used in the antebellum South would decompose quickly in the moist soil. The bodies themselves would decompose equally fast. Certainly, the graves tended to be shallow, so raging floodwaters could erode the sod from the grave and expose the contents, but this legend of cadavers floating down the canals is hooey.

And above-ground burial of the dead was a French Catholic tradition that was simply transported to the New World when New Orleans was founded. It had nothing to do with water tables and boating boogeymen.

Or so I was assured by the docent at one of the Cities of the Dead. A man who, by the way, had all the appearance of a cadaver himself, and smelled strongly of the same embalming fluid favored by Ted Kennedy.

[sodpoodle]

A man who, by the way, had all the appearance of a cadaver himself, and smelled strongly of the same embalming fluid favored by Ted Kennedy.
____________________________________________

Pickles float.

[monday]

"One fault that I am noticing everywhere: Where is the personal responsibility? Why didn't people put their own supply of water by for the duration? Food for a few days? You know that they had to have been advised to do so."

The great majority of people did exactly what they were supposed to do. 400,000 of 500,000 people left the city before the storm hit. Even among those who stayed many had generators, and weeks worth of water and food and fuel.

The problem is among those on welfare. They are not responsible enough to care for themselves under ordinary circumstances so of course it is completely unrealistic to expect them to care for themselves during a hurricane. They expected the government to rescue them.

The government is one of the most inefficient organizations on earth, as detailed in this article, so of course many of them died. Totally predictable. Instead of getting angry that so many died, the survivors should thank God that they survived. Frankly they shouldn't have.

[shield]

bttt

[handy]

Long but well sourced and worth the time it takes to read it.

[mcg2000]

agreed ... bump

[neverdem]

From time to time, I’ll ping on noteworthy articles about politics, foreign and military affairs. FReepmail me if you want on or off my list. If you haven't seen the following article, have a laugh!

Channel 5 Rejects Anti-Bush Ad of Borough President Candidate (Manhattan NYC)

[Enchante]

Yeah, but if we don't succeed in bringing all the facts to everyone's attention around the country (and around the world) only the meme of "Bush let those people die" will be remembered. The Demagogues are already well on their way to launching their latest Moveon.org campaign utilizing "hurricane relief" to turn this into their next big campaign issue:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1478704/posts?page=113#113

[Knitting A Conundrum]

There are graves in NO. Some people, instead of a family mausoleum had raised burial plots. And there was a Jewish cemetery near the corner of Elysian Fields and Gentilly (I think - it's been awhile) that didn't use mausoleums at all.

Yes the water table is high, but they even did mass graves during the yellow fever epidemics.

[BlessedByLiberty]

Failures of this magnitude are systemic in the local culture of New Orleans. I was born there, have relatives there and note that the corruption within local government & local leaders has worsened over time. They have been, in an almost literal sense, big fish in a small pond. Their insatiable lust for power has created the biggest ghost of all that haunts NOLA - the welfare ghost.

Welfare ghosts are people who have had all self determination, self control, self motivation and self preservation bred out of them. Welfare ghosts are emaciated by brainwashing them into believing that they cannot do anything for themselves, that to have self reliance and a determination makes you an object of ridicule, an Uncle Tom, something for which to be ashamed instead of proud.The destruction of the black family began government became both mother, nanny and financial support began the emaciation.

Welfare ghosts all over this country ready for the next disaster to strike.

[spycatcher]

ping

[bitt]

good one ping

[BigDaddyTX]

The re-build will truly make New Orleans the Crescent (and sickle) City. All those houses will need to be re-built. They won't be re-built at the owner's expense, gubment will have to pay for them. It won't be "fair" if some are better built than others or built before others. Imagine the looting of construction supplies of the area that may be built up first.

So we're going to see conformity in the construction, a standard floor plan or two that are going to be better than anything the residents could have afforded on their own. Just imagine what could be built on a direct dollar for dollar or replacement cost basis. They will probably be, at least in part, "the peoples housing units". The residents won't be given 100% ownership due to the new home being worth so much more. Would it be fair for a resident to sell the new house at a premium, pocket the profit and move away? If they do implement some form of partial ownership, how many generations would it take for that to fade away?

Do you see it too?

[Zacs Mom]

marked for a later read