[CHEF MENTEUR] Death of an American City?

Duncan Murrell dvmurrell at nc.rr.com
Tue Dec 13 15:05:04 EST 2005


$32 billion is what's needed, and that includes both Hurricane 5  
protection and a full-on coastal restoration program. If Louisiana  
retained 25% of the revenue the feds earn from Louisiana's offshore  
oil and natural gas that's processed and shipped out of Louisiana,  
that would earn the state around $1.5 billion a year. When spread  
over the 20 years or so it would take to build those kind of levees  
and restore such extensive wetlands, and assuming production stayed  
steady,  such a tithing would pay for it.

We could use your extra $18 billion, Grady,  to improve schools and  
teacher pay, shut down the MR-GO, and help a few people build some  
houses, just for starters.

d


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Duncan Murrell
www.rattlejar.com


On Dec 13, 2005, at 2:46 PM, grady wrote:

> One potentially useful thing on Senator Dole's website (I mean,  
> would be
> more useful if it said "yes, everything is under control, the National
> Guard is being remobilized to the Gulf, and we've just appropriated  
> $50
> billion to rebuild the levees," but ya takes what you can get around
> here, apparently) is this link to the government volunteer-opportunity
> clearinghouse:     http://www.usafreedomcorps.gov/
>
> Try not to barf at all the Bush-glorification all over it, and just
> click one of the big boxes in the middle to be whisked to a list of
> volunteer opportunities in your choice of gulf states.
>
> Chris Calloway wrote:
>> --- grady <grady at ibiblio.org> wrote:
>>> There seems to be some widespread delusion among the
>>> federales that
>>> everybody in America is gonna rise up & volunteer 2
>>> weeks of their time
>>> to go down & rebuild the entire region without the
>>> government actually
>>> having to do anything.
>>
>> well, since the government isn't doing anything, in
>> addition to calling, that's what i'm going to do. from
>> what i hear, the little coordinated efforts where
>> people are reinventing their own little church
>> sponsored government operations aren't doing so well,
>> either. so, i have this bonus week of vacation from
>> the state in lieu of a raise, and that's how i and my
>> pickup truck are gonna spend it. i'm just going to
>> find somebody who needs my help and go help them. it
>> won't rebuild jack shit. but maybe it will lessen
>> somebody's misery for a time.
>>
>> "The federal government decided long ago to try to
>> tame the river and the swampy land spreading out from
>> it. The country needed this waterlogged land of ours
>> to prosper, so that the nation could prosper even
>> more.
>>
>> "Some people in Washington don't seem to remember
>> that. They act as if we are a burden. They act as if
>> we wore our skirts too short and invited trouble. "
>>
>> http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/editorials/index.ssf?/news/content/ 
>> editorial112005.html
>>
>> there's this guy i only know by his comments in free
>> for all blog with several thousand participants. he's
>> interesting enough that i've read every one of this
>> three thousand plus comments in that blog. he's a kind
>> and giving soul. i know other people who do know him
>> irl enough to know he's not a sock puppet on the blog.
>> he's a nola funeral director, from what i gather. he
>> went around in a boat after katrina fishing old
>> grannies off rooftops. he was sending out messages
>> like these:
>>
>> "I have a friends mother who is trapped in New Orleans
>> and I need to find out who I need to contact to let
>> them know where she is. Red Cross is no help. If
>> anyone out there knows who I can contact, please let
>> me know."
>>
>> a little later:
>>
>> "She is at 406 South Gate Drive in Metairie. Her
>> daughter spoke to a few minutes ago. She cannot leave
>> on her own because of an injured leg."
>>
>> and a little later:
>>
>> "It's getting dark in New Orleans and raining a little
>> bit. She's on crutches and can't really move around
>> well on her own. After speaking to the Coast Guard,
>> I've advised her to stay put in her apartment since
>> she has a working phoneline and some food and wait
>> until morning. Then, she's going to move towards the
>> interstate and flag down whomever she can. It's not a
>> fancy plan, but it's all I've got."
>>
>> this was his despair *three months later*:
>>
>> "Here's something I've been wanting to ask. It's hard
>> for me to judge, since I'm down here in the middle of
>> this, and all we seem to do down here is talk about
>> the hurricane and reconstruction.
>>
>> Tell me honestly: does anyone care anymore about what
>> is happening in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast?"
>>
>> After some, uh, the usual prevarications, he piped
>> back in:
>>
>> "The previous comments have shown me that we are, in
>> fact, being left to fend for ourselves down here.
>> (except for the volunteers who are doing their part--I
>> love you all).
>>
>> "Pretty much what I thought.
>>
>> "I wasn't trying to say that the devastation to New
>> Orleans and the Gulf Coast are equal to other recent
>> tragedies (but it is nice to know that body count is
>> apparently the only number that counts), I was just
>> wondering if anyone in the world who isn't from here
>> really fucking cares whether or not the city and
>> region survives.
>>
>> "I guess I lived under the delusion that the world has
>> missed us and will miss us. I'm sure that if Miami or
>> Orlando or even, say, Atlanta had 80% of the city
>> destroyed, the effort to rebuild would be larger and
>> more determined. At least, I hope it would be.
>>
>> "I wonder what the problem is here. Is it us? Is it
>> because we didn't evacuate soon enough? Is it because
>> this could happen again someday in the future? Are we
>> not worth the chance? Is it because no one takes us
>> seriously because of Bourbon Street and Mardi Gras? Is
>> it because we're black? Is it?
>>
>> "It's hard for me to be objective about this, it
>> really is. So, I'll spare you all the anger I felt
>> reading some of these comments. I hope nothing like
>> this ever happens to any of you, but if I does, I hope
>> I'll still be thinking about you 85 days later."
>>
>> knowing something about the writer of those words just
>> drives me insane.
>>
>> whatever people do, call, take vacation, whatever, i
>> just want to encourage people not to let this die of
>> neglect. this is probably preaching to the choir, cuz
>> you all probably have someone you know on the gulf who
>> can tell or who has told you this kind of stuff. but
>> it just didn't know for sure if people were thinking
>> and remembering.
>>
>> 3
>>
>>
>> -- ch-scene: the list that mirrors alt.music.chapel-hill --
>> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ch-scene
>>
>>
>>
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