Gov. Blanco's speech to the Louisiana Legislature

gov.state.la.us ^ | 02/06/06 | kathleen blanco

[Bender2]

Re: I think I would have gone for Stewie saying "Damn you, vile woman!", but that's just me.

Well, Rich... You just have no flair for comedy.

But you'd make a great fireplug. Meet me in about 30 minutes outside by the Exxon station on LaBrea Blvd... Just come up the 101.

[SaveTheChief]

Galveston was the largest city in this area at that time. Houston was relatively small. In addition to the lives, the storm destroyed a major shipping port, and the rest of the infrastructure on the island.

Yeah, Katrina was huge. I am just sick of Blanco and Nagin pointing their fingers at Washington, blaming the President for all their problems while at the same time holding out their hands begging for money.

These people are shameless and along with their Democrat predecessors, the reason so many poor were put into the position of having nothing one day, and having less than nothing the next.

[Dog Gone]

You're still arguing that the end justifies the means. Louisiana coastal lands need protecting and any tactic you can use to make others pay for it is justified.

Hell, just send the Lousiana National Guard to rob Fort Knox. At least you wouldn't be threatening the nation's energy supply.

[hsalaw]

Okay.

[Wisc Paul]

Agreed - I had an interesting experience in working in N.O. for a time, and I have never seen, or worked in, a more backwards, incompetent, corrupt, crime-ridden and childish atmosphere in my life. It was no supprise to me with what happened, and is no supprise what's happening today.

[Mila]

"It took an excommunication from the Catholic Church down here to get him under control."

No two ways about it, Leander was a real pip!

[Ben Ficklin]

"that most inland states get 50% royalties off of Federal land"

That amounts to significant money only in states where there is a large amount of federal land and if you look at the issue of how the feds dispersed, or didn't disperse, these lands in the 19th and 20th century, you see a situation which is more egregious than the shelf. The fact that this land is not on the local tax base is more significant than the shelf and while these royalties may offset the loss of tax revenue, it is only slight.

These federal lands in the western states has also led to significant water and property rights issues. Under Bush/Norton, this has not been as much of a problem, but under Clinton/Babbit, it was severe. Remember the Sagebrush Rebellion? Remember how Clinton screwed Utah on the low sulpher coal beds in the Grand Staircase-Escalante?

No-one doubts that LA will eventually get federal money for restoration. However, it is advantagous to wait until restoration in Florida/Everglades has progressed far enough that the technology developed there can be applied to LA.

No-one disagrees that LA and other Coastal states deserve more OCS royalties. LA needs to stop spitting on everyone and develope allies. Tauzin's CARA Title One is a good example of how it should be done.

[WatchOutForSnakes]

Reasonable argument. I would make one amendment though to your last sentence. That should read no "reasonable" people disagree, etc.

These threads are full of people saying Louisiana should get no royalties on offshore drilling.

[Elyse]

She is talking about the sins mainly from the Edwards years that still plage us. People forget that alot of this LOuisiana corruption charge comes from that era.

I hate to keep raining on your parade because I know that you just want to see our state and New Orleans rebuilt, but, Edwards had long ago been shown his jail cell when the Levy Board misused funds on casinos and fountains.

I continue to be disgusted that Blanco actually wants to try and blackmail the rest of the country into giving our state money. We have no right to the offshore oil revenues. To me it's just embarassing to see her stoop this low in the name of our state.

[The South Texan]

Again. The more this lady and the rest of the politicians in Louisiana speak, the less sympathy they get from the rest of the country.

[WatchOutForSnakes]

I'm interested in your statement that "we have no right to the offshore oil revenues". Do you mean we have no right to any additional offshore oil revenues or we have no right to any offshore oil revenues at all?

[CajunConservative]

She did order the evacuation. There was also a contraflow which is only done for mandatory evacuations.

08/27/2005 Saturday afternoon, after getting into town and taking care of some last minute supply issues with the fuel, food and over 12 gallons of water, I then headed out to film the evacuation. At 4:00 P.M. Interstate 10 was turned into the Contraflow. That is where all lanes of traffic on Interstate 10 flow west bound. No eastbound traffic.

08/28/2005 Less then 24 hours away and now people are taking Hurricane Katrina serious. Here is a video of the Contraflow on Interstate 10 with all lanes packed solid less then a day away from the zero hour of 7:00 AM when the power failed in downtown New Orleans. From the looks of this video, you would think there would be nobody left in the city.

[LA Woman3]

Legislators react to Governor Blanco's address

07:45 PM CST on Monday, February 6, 2006

“We’ve got to do something to unite to one levee board system in southeast Louisiana to get the federal money. Whether that will be easy to do, I don’t know. – Jane Smith, R – Bossier City.

“I think everybody agrees we should streamline if we’re going to have fewer citizens. The problem is, how many fewer citizens are we going to have? Rather than go in with a butcher’s knife and start cutting, I think we need to go with a scalpel and cut what we need to cut – no more, no less.” – Jeff Arnold, D – New Orleans, whose father Tom Arnold is a New Orleans assessor.

“Some very good ideas have been put on the table. We most definitely need to do something with the levee boards. I think something good will come from this and we’re just hoping that everyone will work together for the benefit of this area and southwest Louisiana.” -- Herman Ray Hill, D – Dry Creek

“I’m afraid up there (north Louisiana), they’re really proud that she’s doing this (trying to cut N.O.’s government). As a whole I think they’d like to streamline. We’ve got to figure out what the best thing is for New Orleans. If that’s what it takes, I’ll be for it, but I can assure you my constituents think it’s the best thing.” – Leland Kenny, D – Columbia.

“In the north, in my area, one of the main concerns is that we tackle the voting issue bill and they’re really strongly opposed to someone voting for the first time absentee without having ever voted in person.” – Jane Smith, R – Bossier City.

“We need to consolidate the governance of all these levees. It’s very, very critical. We took tours of the devastation today and it’s very widespread. We have destruction across this entire flood system. We have to have a consolidated, unified plan. We have to have highly qualified people to make these decisions. The federal government is telling us that before we spend hundreds of billions of dollars rebuilding the levees…we want to make sure our investment is safe.” – Mike Strain, R – Covington.

“I think they were nice words, but I’d like to see actions. I want her to look people in the eye, and say that I think you, more than I, can rebuild your home. I want to give people to their own money and have them build their homes. No more programs, no more studies. Whatever money we have from Congress, give it to the individual homeowner and let them rebuild their own home.” – Derrick Shepherd, D – Marrero.

[deport]

First, let us secure our communities by strengthening our levees. The levees are federal levees.

It is inexcusable that our people - hardworking and patriotic American taxpayers - were asked to entrust their lives and property to a worn and broken system. We must replace false security with a reliable 21st Century hurricane protection system based on today's engineering and technology.

The state has a responsibility, too. As the Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans know, if we expect Washington to make the lasting investment to rebuild the federal levees, then we must do our part.

You approved the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. The CPRA is charged with overseeing levee boards statewide and developing a master plan for coastal and flood protection. Now let's take the next step.

By consolidating the levee boards in Southeast Louisiana, we have an opportunity to improve the oversight and maintenance of hurricane protection levees. Some levee boards work better than others. Some have diverted attention away from flood control to various levels of corruption and cronyism.

The people of Southeast Louisiana want and deserve a single levee board run by professionals devoted exclusively to flood protection

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I'm confused......... If these are federal levees then what did the local levee boards do, what authority did they have and how was it that they spent the money allocated to levee construction and maintenance?..... Either the locals were involved in the control/decision process or they weren't.

Sounds like the Gov. is trying to insulate responsibility from the previous levee boards by saying it is federal. Where are the investigations of the prior levee boards and their actions, where are the charges, if warranted, against the previous boards/members?

Sounds like the Gov., the State Attorney General and others have some ground work to do to show the nation they are sincere.....

I think her statement in the address is appriopriate but needs action rather than just some rheotric:

....Louisiana can no longer tolerate the perception that you must pay to play if you expect to do business in this state. We must put the sins of the past behind us and use our recovery as an opportunity to earn the trust and confidence of the nation.

Louisiana the ball is in your court.....

[deport]

"Louisiana has weathered the largest natural disaster in American history."

I'd just like to remind people that over six thousand people lost their lives to the 1900 hurricane that hit Galveston Island.

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Even Galvestion doesn't come close, imo.

The Civil war took 200,000 or so combat related deaths and some 400,000 or so other deaths that may have been associated with the war along with massive destruction to the country and cities of the time... For the Gov. to compare the loss created by Katrina and say it was greater is wrong, very wrong, imo.

[CajunConservative]

The problem is misreporting. Katrina is the "costliest" natural disaster in regards to damages. Galveston was the deadliest natural disaster and of course the Civil War was the deadliest event in our history.

[WatchOutForSnakes]

The key words in that statement being "natural disaster". The Civil War was not a natural disaster. In numbers of deaths Galveston was greater. In widespread damage and cost, Katrina and Rita were greater.

[Elyse]

We had talked about this in another thread the other day and I knew that bayourant would understand that I mean additional revenue.

[Saints fan]

Texas already gets tax revenue from these off shore leases, much more than Louisiana. Louisiana is only asking for the same deal Texas and Florida get.

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/editorials/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1139124215210420.xml

[Saints fan]

They do Ben. Please visit the link in post #59