New Orleans is getting angry...

I think there'a a lot of whining coming from New Orleans. I think the folks in Miss. have the right idea. Look what waiting for the feds got N.O. already.

It's simple: That's my dollar, dang it. Anyone who wants to "help" someone with money is free to donate their own. But don't send the gummit boys to take mine. I've grown weary of the excuses used to justify state sponsored Robin-Hooding.

PS: FEMA isn't authorized by the constitution, anyhow. But neither is most of what the gummit boys do.

let'em throw a party in bourbon street

Mississippi has the right idea. They'll be up, running, and ready to take on the load long before New Orleans has any idea that competition is building on the other side of the river. The useful part of NO will simply transfer to whatever gets functioning first.

engineer151515 said:

N.O. feels abandoned. Discussions on how the levies should be repaired or replaced are all over the map with ideas. Stand up to Cat 5 storms? Repair what they have? Rebuilding requirements?

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rebuilding the levies to withstand cat 5 is going to be a massive undertaking and a will be a monumental feat of engineering. It is going to take years to construct and the planning alone could go into years. They are going to have to be patient, there is nothing else.

As the core of engineers attempts to control the direction of the river, and as channels are cut through the delta for transportation and oil exploration, the barrier reefs are rapidly decreasing in size. They are half of the size they were in 1965 when Betsy hit. Those levies are an important barrier in attenuating incoming storm surge. We are losing the delta region as it gets washed out to see every year. In decades or centuries, NOLA is going to literally be out at sea. Even if they rebuild the levies to cat 5, these types of problems are going to continue and get worse. The fundamental problem is man thinking he can manage nature better than nature can herself. Mother nature will take care of herself and won't stop if we are in the way.

It is going to come down betwee continuing to developoil resources in the region or support and protect a viable city on the delta. The two actions are in direct conflict.

fjolnirsson said:

I think there'a a lot of whining coming from New Orleans. I think the folks in Miss. have the right idea. Look what waiting for the feds got N.O. already.

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I don't think anyone besides the federally-funded Army Corps of Engineers can build new levies!

What, the people living in poverty in the 9th ward are supposed to hire private firms to build private levies?

"Ownership society" only goes so far. The government IS responsible for the big, clunky, concrete and asphalt public-works projects that make the country go.

N.O. feels abandoned.

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...Boo Hoo...

It's all about those feelings... Well I guess that's what happens when you've lived off the Social-Welfare teet for all those years....


The local government should just start putting Wellbutrin XL in their drinking water supplies & hand out some children chew able Prozac, so every day is a "Happy Day"...

Well they got their 15 minutes and billions of our taxpayer dollars. They've been living on the gov't teat forever and I doubt they'll stop any time soon. And I wonder how long before it floods again, considering they'll always be below sea level...

You know, to bad. Rebuild it if you want but don't expect the rest of the country to fit the bill. The feds should help sure, but it should be the states responsability to take care of a lot of it. Plan it, build it, stop whinning about a shiny one that can stand up to a catagory five storm. If you want total security your house and city wont be destroyed move someplace where the city isn't in a hurricane prone area and below sea level.

One common thread of thought I hear a lot of is that Louisiana (New Orleans) doesn't get their "fair share" of the oil and gas energy they supply the country. "We supply 30% of the energy to the country - give us our money" seems to be mantra forming which will grow louder as the next hurricane season approaches.

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I recall reading that in the early 70s, Louisiana put a lot of money into developing the oil and gas fields off their shores in the Gulf of Mexico. Then, once they started to produce, the feds stepped in and took over lock, stock and barrel. I can't vouch for the accuracy of that though, but if true it gives some weight to their complaint.

I believe there is a Constitutional issue involved, specifically Article I, Section 8 whereby Congress is given the power "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;"


Louisiana wants to set the price of Oil and Gas it sells to other states. Since many states don't have natural gas supplies or oil wells, LA could 'gouge' those states. The market would not set the price of natural gas.


I am sure somebody in the O&G business could elaborate.

IIRC

New Orleans existed before the US of A did. It seemed to survive without the Army Corps of Engineers. Just restore the barrier islands and don't build below sea level.

Losisana has made BILLIONS, from gas, oil, shipping, and tourists. Every dime has been pissed away.Graft, kickbacks, and corruption are a way of life there. Works like this: Money is poured into social programs to keep the people happy, NOT HELP THEM. This in turn keeps them on the Democratic side. This keeps the Dems in power. This alows the Dems to siphon the money off. Really simple.

Kevin

New Orleans is a case study of life on the Defeatocrat Party Plantation. Live off of the Nanny's teat, sit around waiting for Papa Government to build your house, heat your house, buy your food, edge-a-kate your children. Now, like the junkies they are, the "people" demand more. Whatta mess. Katrina was a Category 3 hurricane when it hit.

Let's hear it for the Liberal Left and their continued efforts to encourage whining over work.

Let them earn their beads.

Angry?

No angrier than the rest of us will be if they get anything close to what Mary Landrieu wanted.

Nagin and Blanco should have learned from
Army Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honore: don't wait
for things to happen, make things happen.
When people are standing around with
deer-in-the-headlight-eyes, you give them
something to do and break them out of it.

I do not have much time to respond and I am for from an expert but I will address some of the above threads with what I know and believe to be true.

* engineer; through federal tax on oil & gas, La. contrbutes more money to the federal revenue than any other state. and we get less back as a % of contribution than any other state. I forget the exact % but La. is not far behind Federal income tax and Social Security as to the amount of money they contribute to the total U.S. revenue.

* stebalo: I have worked and/or lived in south La. for over 40 years. and what you have said about the coast and more importantly the marsh I have seen. we have lost a lot of marsh over the years due to channelization which accelerates coastal erosin.
Recently La. and the Feds have passed legislation that minimizes the effects of channelizations.

* Manedwolf: yes the feds have the funds to build levees but La. being what it is they have levee boards that oversee the building of levees by good ole boy contractors.
they pay these contractors with federal money. Some of that federal levee money has gone to build less than acceptable levees. I belive the U.S. attorney General is looking into this at this time is asking where 10's of millions of dollars have gone.

*Lupinus: I agree it is the states responsibilty and since they chose to $%$# it up let them fix it. Our illustrious Govenor has decided that La. needs a board to oversee the levee board.

* Sindawe: the state spend money to build roads and ports to facilate the O&G industry

*WT: i am not sure what you are getting. But i will respond as i understand your response.

If the fed's can regulate then they are guilty of price gouging on O&G taxes.

La. would love to set the price of O&G but that is done by supply&demand and more than anything by TAX!! the largest part of the price of end used O&G is a TAX.

Yes I am a citizen of Louisiana (not NO) and I work in the oilfield.

My overall take on this subject is bent because of where I live and what i do for a living. Overall I think that what has happened to NO is a tragedy and there are no simple solutions. But bailing NO out with our tax dollars is not the solution. NO needs to get with the program and start helping themselves
but that will not happen anytime soon.

See ya monday.

arky65

arky65: Welcome to The High Road! New guy buys ammo. I'll take .308 please.

I appreciate the insight into the O&G industry. You are correct IMAO that the "helpless" folks in NO need to get their ducks in a row and solve their problems themselves, since THEY know the most about it.

Hi Arky,

Yes the State does build roads for the oil, gas, and shipping industry. The State also pulls in BILLIONS of dollars in taxes from them. That is the 'mystery money' nobody wants to talk about.

Kevin

p.s. Remember what Edwin Edwards, former Governor,said when asked why he spent 3 million dollars of HIS money for a job that pays $150,000 a year?
" If you think I make $150,000 a year from this job you are crazy." He is now in prison for accepting kickbacks

longeyes said:

Angry?

No angrier than the rest of us will be if they get anything close to Mary Landrieu wanted.

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Her Daddy is responsible for at least half the problem... Moon Landrieu was one of the mayors that siphoned off a BUNCH of the Fed $$ to his cronies. She should clean up her OWN house before she starts wanting $$ from us! I was born and raised in Louisiana, and haven't been back in 30+ years because of the politics.

Manedwolf said:

What, the people living in poverty in the 9th ward are supposed to hire private firms to build private levies?

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Too bad, sucks for them, better try again somewhere else.

That being said I hear plenty of Mexicans illegal or otherwise are finding opportunity in New Orelans. Good for them.

Hey New Orleans, you might be able to rebuild, but you are going to have to write off a large part of the city. That is what we had to do up here after the "Flood of 97". Whole neighborhoods near the river were writen off, destroyed, and made into parks. We moved our dikes back and gave the river more room to move. It sucked and nobody won, but it had to be done. New Orleans is going to have to write off most homes because it is just not possible to save them in the long run. Sometimes you have to make hard choices.