Posted on 09/18/2005 3:40:16 AM PDT by pending
Article Last Updated: 09/16/2005 10:59:55 PM
Lowry: What caused the flood? Take your pick
Rich Lowry
Hurricane Katrina makes for a straightforward narrative for liberals: Big government could have prevented the catastrophe, but President Bush so distrusts government, he didn't spend enough on levees and other projects to save New Orleans. Leaving aside that the free-spending Bush is hardly a miser, this narrative has no connection to the grimy facts on the ground. Indeed, if this is ''a big government moment,'' one wonders why government continues to look so bad.
The ''more funding for levees'' argument perpetuates a common misperception. The long-standing earthen levees surrounding the city did not fail. It was the floodwalls around the drainage canals that protrude into New Orleans that were overwhelmed. One breach seems to have been caused by a barge breaking loose from its moorings and battering down one of the walls. Will Nancy Pelosi now accuse Bush of underfunding barge moorings?
It is still a matter of debate what caused the other breaches. One expert at the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center told The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune that he suspects a ''catastrophic structural failure.'' Another expert suggested that ''the flaw may not be in the design but in the construction or materials.''
So the flooding didn't result from old levees desperately needing more funding. In fact, the section of 17th Street canal where a major breach occurred had just been upgraded, and The New York Times writes ''received more attention and shoring up than many other spots in the region.'' Even if Bush had larded more money on New Orleans - according to a broad-brush comparison in The Washington Post, he spent more in his first five years in office than Bill Clinton did in his last five - it wouldn't have stopped such a breach.
In a key respect, too much government funding was the problem. A hurricane researcher at Louisiana State University has long warned that the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet - built in 1965 as a shortcut from the Gulf of Mexico to the Port of New Orleans - would serve as a ''hurricane highway,'' magnifying storm surges and delivering them into the city. It appears that this is what happened.
The Washington Post reports that only 3 percent of the port's cargo comes through the canal, at a price to taxpayers of an estimated $12,000 per vessel. Still, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers spent $13 million dredging the canal last year. Even though there were warnings about the dangers of MRGO, even though it was commercially marginal, the Corps wanted to spend up to $38 million on keeping it going. A former employee with the Corps' New Orleans district told the Post: ''The general feeling was: 'There's no way we're closing that.' They wanted all the business they could get.''
Here is the recipe for government, not as liberals imagine it, but as it actually exists: Take the Corps, for whom every project, no matter how unnecessary, is a ''pressing need''; combine it with Congress, where Louisiana representatives eagerly diverted Corps money to their pet projects; and throw on top the corrupt officialdom of New Orleans. Then shake well - and get out of the way.
The Orleans Levee Board, the state agency charged with protecting the levees, is so notorious that it makes Bush's FEMA look like a paragon of professionalism. Former president of the board Billy Nungesser, who was ousted after trying to reform it, says: ''Every time I turned over a rock, there was something rotten. I used to tell people, 'If your children ever die in a hurricane, come shoot us, because we're responsible.' We threw away all sorts of money.''
The board operates an airport, two marinas, and has a private police force that Nungesser says ''wears more gold braid than Gen. MacArthur when he went to the Philippines.'' The board just spent $2.4 million on a Mardi Gras Fountain near Lake Pontchartrain. NBC News reports that the board spent $15 million on building overpasses to a riverboat casino, and paid $45,000 to a private investigator to find dirt on a board critic - followed by another $45,000 to settle the resulting lawsuit. Feeling dry yet?
--- Rich Lowry is editor of the National Review.
The (Orleans Levee) board operates an airport, two marinas, and has a private police force that Nungesser says ''wears more gold braid than Gen. MacArthur when he went to the Philippines.'' The board just spent $2.4 million on a Mardi Gras Fountain near Lake Pontchartrain. NBC News reports that the board spent $15 million on building overpasses to a riverboat casino, and paid $45,000 to a private investigator to find dirt on a board critic - followed by another $45,000 to settle the resulting lawsuit. Feeling dry yet?
The Orleans Levee Board, the state agency charged with protecting the levees, is so notorious that it makes Bush's FEMA look like a paragon of professionalism. Former president of the board Billy Nungesser, who was ousted after trying to reform it, says: ''Every time I turned over a rock, there was something rotten. I used to tell people, 'If your children ever die in a hurricane, come shoot us, because we're responsible.' We threw away all sorts of money.''
The board just spent $2.4 million on a Mardi Gras Fountain near Lake Pontchartrain.
I'll give them a pass on the fountain. They actually restored it.
The fountain is a large circle that is surrounded by plaques of every major krewe(parade) that has rolled in New Orleans.
Im sure someone got a little extra money in his pocket, but the fountain has been an icon on the lake. I hope the plaques were not destroyed by the hurricane.
So as long as levee funds are misused for something you approve of, it's OK? Glad to know it.
the levee board not only oversee's the levee but also the lake and parks connected to it. this would include up keep. and that is what they did to the fountain.
so it was okay with me and about 480,000 residents. what the article does not tell you, is some of the money was raised through private donations.
So your nitwit of a response tells me you don't think and know what you are talking about.
Watch the language bub. First, you cite private donations as if that justifies the inclusion of public expenditures--it doesn't. Second, you now claim that the fountain was within the purview of the levee board: you should prove that; and your previous post argues not that the spending was legitimate, but that you like the fountain.
boo hoo hoo.
if that justifies the inclusion of public expenditures--
It does!
As far as the levee board and what they are responsible for, I'll let you do the research. Seems you need to educate yourself since your first nitwit response.
Good luck bub.
Again, these people were under indictment BEFORE Katrina hit..
Moronic statement. So if I donate a few bucks to the "Build Shalom a monument" fund, it becomes OK for the government to pitch in the remaining couple million? Completely asinine.
As far as the levee board and what they are responsible for, I'll let you do the research.
That's called "shifting the burden of proof." But it's also irrelevant; your argument was that you like the fountain, therefore the government should pay for it. So your own position is not based on legality, but a socialistic belief that the government should pay for things you like. More than likely, you also believe that Bush is right to commit $200 billion to rebuilding NO.
more dribble.
I do suggest you educate yourself on the Orleans Levee Board.
The word is "drivel", my angry but ignorant yahoo friend.
WHat casued the flood? Too much water trying to occupy the same area, just a guess.
Perhaps the Levee committee should have been concerned with the levees?
How is that fountain looking now?
No nitwit its dribble.
as in leaking stupidity from your brain.
go back to bed, your mommy is calling.
Have a nice day, Cajun Man. See you when you learn English and outgrow your socialism.
And how about spending $550,000,000 in today's money on building the Superdome
I know your being sarcastic, but I'll be there next week.
If I can get to the area I'll let you know. If the fountain is destroyed, I will tell you, it will be rebuilt.
The area is also considered Lakeview and it was the area that was hit hardest with flooding.
Have family and several friends who lost their homes in the area. Some very beautiful homes.
Hopefully all the corruption that did exist will be cleaned up before all the federal dollars come flowing through.
boo hoo hoo.
I have a couple of questions about the $2.4 million.
Were any of the funds used designated in the budget or designated by the feds supposed to be used for specifically restoring the fountain? Or were the fed funds designated for other use such as evacuation planning, levee maintenance or other use?
The issue all depends on what the fed funds were actually supposed to be used for. If they weren't designated specifically for park maintenance or restoration of the fountain then they were misused. Doesn't matter if there were also private donations if the fed funds weren't used for their intended purpose.
Farrakhan's Mother Ship crashed into the levee in the dark of the night............. causing a huge hole.
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