Gentilly Girl- a part of the 99%

June 8, 2007

The ACOE Is Killing Us

Fix the Pumps is today featuring the new internal ACOE report on the “work” the Corps have been doing to get flood protections around the city up to snuff.

Matt entitled his post: “Bombshell”. My only response to this report is “Oh Poop on a stick”.

All of this “repairing” of our mis-designed and improperly built levee systems and the new pumps should be seen as a betrayal to the folks of New Orleans and the American taxpayers. It is CRIMINAL ACT!!!

Reparations for all of New Orleans and our area NOW!!!

May 6, 2007

National Geographic on Levees

Just found this link for a good primer on what we here in SE Louisiana are facing when it comes to erosion and levees.

May 1, 2007

18 Missing Inches in New Orleans

Here’s a piece from Greg Palast concerning the release of the Trade Paperback version of “Armed Madhouse: From Baghdad to New Orleans.

As always I have snippets, and this one is a reminder of the truths of the Federal Flood and our demand for REPARATIONS:

“The White House had good reason, or at least political and financial reasons, to keep mum. A hurricane is an act of God, but catastrophic levee failure is an act of the Administration. Once the federal levees go, evacuation, rescue and those frightening words – responsibility and compensation – become Washington’s. Van Heerden knew that “not an act of God, but catastrophic failure of the levee system” would mean that, at least, “these people must be compensated.”

Not every flood victim in America gets the Katrina treatment. In 1992, storms wiped out 190 houses on the beach at West Hampton Dunes, home to film stars and celebrity speculators. The federal government paid to completely rebuild the houses, which, hauled in four million cubic feet of sand to restore the tony beaches, and guaranteed the home’s safety into the coming decades – after which the “victim’s” homes rose in value to an average $2 million each.”

Reparations to the victims of the Federal Flood!

April 5, 2007

Now It’s Pipe Poop and Rust…

From “Fix the Pumps” comes the newest information on how well the ACOE is looking after the tax dollars they are using toget NOLA’s protections up again since the failure of the Federal levee system.

A snippet:

“What is obvious, but somehow has escaped everyone’s notice until now, is that the pipes are unpainted, and have been since they were installed almost a year ago. Naturally, they’re rusting.”

We need lots of Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs, a bunch of batteries, and rubber bands. We locals could build a better system for drainage and protection compared to the Corps’ juvenile attempts.

April 2, 2007

From Matt at Fix the Pumps: “Oh. My. God.”

Here are two pieces from Fix the Pumps: Here and here.

In the first piece, you will see some pics that I will tell you absolutely should not be happening. The second piece describes the model to be used for calculating the viability of a hydraulic system. In both scenarios we are screwed if this is what the ACoE intends to use for keeping us dry.

March 31, 2007

WB Levee Board Demands…

Filed under: Levees,New Orleans,NOLA Politics,West Bank — Tags: , , , — Morwen Madrigal @ 2:37 am

So… the West Bank Levee Board is demanding $1.4 M from the East Bank Levee Board… Algiers’ reps have no vote over there, BTW.

I think the answer is best summed up by “No taxation without representation”. ‘Nuff said WB.
LINK

March 28, 2007

GAO Looks Into MWI Pump Poop

From WDSU comes this piece by Cain Burdeau-  LINK

May the shit storm begin!

March 26, 2007

Pump Poop III: The Fire

Filed under: Corps of Engineers,Drainage,Levees,MWI,New Orleans,Pumps — Tags: , , , , , — Morwen Madrigal @ 3:29 pm

Matt over at Fix the Pumps has a long piece concerning the failure of a pump test (MWI) that resulted in the test building badly damaged by fire and one worker dying due to his burns.
Matt tells it better than I can…

March 20, 2007

More Pump Poop

Filed under: Corps of Engineers,Drainage,Levees,New Orleans,Pumps — Tags: , , , , — Morwen Madrigal @ 1:06 pm

This is probably what they’ll do next for our pump situation:

Thanks to the Toledo Blade.

March 19, 2007

Unstable Foundations

Filed under: Civic Blogging,Katrina,Levees,Louisiana,New Orleans — Tags: , , , , — Morwen Madrigal @ 12:58 am

I found this wonderful piece posted at Common Dreams.It is a well done presentation by Rebecca Solnit on the state of recovery in New Orleans.

Here’s some snippets:

“Despite its decline, New Orleans remains a port city and a major tourist destination. But it also matters because it’s beautiful, with its houses — from shacks to mansions — adorned with feminine, lacy-black ironwork or white, gingerbread wood trim, with its colossal, spreading oaks and the most poetic street names imaginable; because the city and the surrounding delta are the great font from which so much of our popular music flows; because people there still have a deep sense of connection and memory largely wiped away in so many other places; because it is a capital city for black culture, including traditions that flowed straight from Africa; because, in some strange way, it holds the memory of what life was like before capitalism and may yet be able to teach the rest of us something about what life could be like after capitalism.” 

“We all owe New Orleans and those who suffered most in Katrina a huge debt. Their visible suffering and the visibly stupid, soulless, and selfish response of the federal government brought an end to the unquestionable dominance of the Bush administration in the nearly four years between New York’s great disaster and this catastrophe. In China, great earthquakes were once thought to be signs that the mandate of heaven has been withdrawn from the ruling dynasty. Similarly, the deluges of Katrina washed away the mandate of the administration and made it possible, even necessary, for those who had been blind or fearful before to criticize and oppose afterwards.” 

We need more thinking people such as Rebecca.

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