Hurricane Katrina

In an effort to quell the mob mentality and headline
grabbing partisan politics agenda, MoreWhat.com offers
some viewpoints not typically available in the main
stream media. And the viewpoints are not only from us.

The subject relates to the blame game on Hurricane
Katrina in light of renewed interest (why we don’t know)
as the anniversary of the disaster arrives. However, we
are not submitting any commentary on the aftermath of
Katrina or the quality of response by FEMA et al.

We have hinted at the ability of Governor Blanco and
Mayor Nagin to shift focus to President Bush and the
federal government for failures related to New Orleans
inadequate protection against floods and of course the
provision of assistance after the hurricane. We might
focus on this in a subsequent post.

Let the games begin:

from Civil Engineering Magazine, Greg Brouwer, 2003

During the past 40 years the US Army Corps of Engineers
has spent hundreds of millions of dollars constructing
a barrier around the low-lying City of New Orleans to
protect it from hurricanes. But is the system of levees
high enough? And can any defense ultimately protect a
city that is perpetually sinking–in some areas at a
rate of half an inch per year.

from The Washington Post
The Slow Drowning of New Orleans
By Michael Grunwald and Susan B. Glasser
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, October 9, 2005; A01

Local officials resisted the goal of Category 3
protection for their communities as overly extravagant.
In 1982, the Orleans Levee District urged the Corps to
“lower its design standards to provide more realistic
hurricane protection.” The levee district, stocked with
political appointees, could spend freely on private
investigators, riverboat gambling and a $2.4 million
Mardi Gras fountain. But it said it could not afford
its share of protection from a 200-year storm,
suggesting that 100-year protection would be fine.

from www.propertyrightsalliance.org/ Sept 2005

Scott A. LaGanga, PRA Executive Director
Research conducted by Katherine Boyle

The Truth behind the Barriers:

The Environmental Lobby Attack on Levee Construction
and Hurricane Barriers

• In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the political
blame game has begun, and fingers are pointing in every
direction. Lack of funding by Congress, ineffective
local and state government, poor planning by FEMA, and
deficiency in President Bush’s leadership are among the
favorite targets for partisan blame. Despite these
allegations, the Army Corps of Engineers’ prolonged court
battles with environmentalist groups demonstrates that
there is one faction that is truly blameworthy. The
finger should not be pointed at Congress nor President
Bush, but at the local officials and environmentalist
groups who prevented the construction of a massive
hurricane barrier to protect the city of New Orleans and
actively sought to hinder the reconstruction of levees
and flood control reservoirs along the Mississippi River
throughout the nineties.

Once again, MoreWhat.com is suggesting to all of you
in favor of simply bashing President Bush over the issue
of Hurricane Katrina to find another bashing topic. There
are enough of them and they are not all about this or Iraq.
Have you considered that being an equal opportunity basher
will likely gain more support than picking on one tired
subject. Especially when your anger is misplaced. It is
allowing other guilty parties to escape your wrath.