Posts from — March 2006

This is a picture of the structure that failed, a floodwall.

The pumping system in New Orleans could have handled the levees being overtopped, as it has in the past, but it had no chance when floodwalls broke.

The decision was made to construct canals between Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi years ago and rather than using levees a decision was made to use floodwalls, which are inherently weaker structures even when properly constructed.

The quick and dirty solution would be to block the canals while new structures are being built, and before the next hurricane strikes, but that would affect shipping interests and businesses along the canals that have come back.

As it stands now, the people who return can only hope New Orleans doesn’t get hit again and store nothing of value on the first floor.

Lab Kat, Bobby, and Michael were rightfully upset with an effort to establish a state religion in violation of the First Amendment.

I was getting ready to scream about this when Anne pointed me to The Mix.

I have stopped and thought about it. Given their history of building strawmen on the Christmas issue, I’m coming to believe this is probably a decoy designed to rile the base for the next election cycle.

As Americans United for Separation of Church and State points out, this is a resolution, not a law, and therefore has no force in law. That also means you can’t overturn it in court.

Let’s just chalk it up as another expression of bigotry by a group that lacks the courage to wear their Klan robes in the legislature. This has nothing to do with their religion and everything to do with their desire to get elected.

Escambia County Chief of Marine Resources Robert Turpin: “There’s a compound called dinaseb(sic) that’s a herbicide and it can be absorbed by the skin, so we are very concerned about the quantity of these materials.”

Actually it’s spelled “dinoseb” and according to the Extension Toxicology Network:

Regulatory Status: The use of dinoseb was cancelled in the U.S. in 1986. This action was based on the potential risk of birth defects and other adverse health effects for applicators and other persons with substantial dinoseb exposure. This pesticide is not commercially available in the U.S.

Dinoseb is a highly toxic compound. Prior to its ban, it was a Restricted Use Pesticide (RUP), and products containing dinoseb were required to be labeled with a DANGER Signal Word.

You have to assume it was manufactured at one of the chemical factories in the western Gulf and being shipped abroad to a country where it is still legal.

It has been sitting there for six months and no one knew what it was.

™ ^{[Kevin Drum]}

Belly Rubs

Do it again. That wasn’t enough, do it again.

[Editor: It’s two o’clock belly rubs in the computer room.]

Friday Ark

After Katrina, Anntichrist S. Coulter of Blondesense took up a collection for relief supplies and went into the area to help people that were missed by the organizations that everyone expects to do this work.

All Things Considered has been down in the Big Easy all week and had some good reporting, but Scout Prime of First Draft has been producing New Orleans Blog with donations and local volunteer help.

Scout is producing podcasts and putting up video of the city, as well as conversations with local people.

Unlike the media, Scout is providing raw information and allowing you to be your own editor.

Some might argue that this isn’t objective reporting. Well, neither was the best of the reporting from the MSM after the talking heads figured out how bad things were and no one in the government was listening. Some things are just wrong and there’s no point trying to provide “balance”.

Run under the auspices of Water Tribe, the goal is to circle the Florida Peninsula by human or wind power in less than 30 days and show up back in St. Petersburg.

The course is down the Gulf Coast then up the Atlantic Coast to the Suwanee River and back to the Gulf. The 40-mile portage takes the advantage away from the sailors and gives it to the kayak and canoe people.

One of the participants has a trailer that he will be using to tow his kayak behind his wheelchair during the portage.

I don’t think I can clear my schedule for this one.

In my Katrina post on August 28, 2005 I wrote:

At the moment, I’m reminded of Hurricane Camille in August of 1969. My Dad was in Biloxi, Mississippi when it hit and I drove through a month or so later. It looked like carpet bombing with destruction continuing well inland.

Katrina is now a Category Five with sustained winds at 175 miles per hour. There will be massive waves and a storm surge. New Orleans is six feet below sea level on average and needs levees and pumps to keep from flooding in normal times. If this storm comes anywhere close it will flood.

The flood wall failure made it worse, but even without that failure, when the power failed, the pumps would fail, and the city would fill with water.

As the disaster of Iraq becomes plain, everyone who supported the war says that no one could have imagined this mess.

Except that annoyed people like Professor Cole are posting Golden Oldies, from February 27, 2003, outlining what was going to happen.

Of course, we should ignore the warnings in A World Transformed by George H.W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft, explaining why they didn’t invade Iraq during the first Gulf War.

That garbage put out by Condoleezza Rice about no one could imagine using airliners as guided missiles was buried under reports about Pentagon war games, Congressional Research Service reports, and several spy novelists who all used this specific action.

What we really see is the country being ruled by a group of unimaginative, incurious, lazy, shiftless, ignorant people who have been carried through life by others.

Which is a good time to learn about Rhodi Morgan, the first minister of the devolved Welsh government.

Let’s Play

I was already Blog sitting for Pensacola Beach Blog when I learned that a neighbor needed someone to take care of her cat while she was in the hospital.

The fuzzy young lad was really happy to see someone, as he had been alone for a few days. He had water, but was obviously a bit peckish having processed all of the available food, based on his litter box.

The neighbor didn’t think she would be hospitalized when she went for some tests out of town, and apparently panicked when they just put her in the hospital causing the delay.

That’s what neighbors are for.