Big Trouble for Big Easy and Big Mac

Email Print posted by MRFred 08/28/2008 10:57:34 AM EST

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You read it here first. If Hurricane Gustav hits Nawlins and there are any levee breaks..issues...the Repubs are TOAST.

< Innocent victim killed by flooding and storm surge according to the  Natonal Weather Service, or according to the RNC, God's wrath.

Gustav will effect New Orleans in some way...models are projecting Gustav to be at least a Category 3 storm. Last night Gustav jogged to the south meaning the track will not impact land again until its final land fall...a straight run to through Gulf oil fields and to New Orleans.

If that happens remember this phrase...

Your doing a heck of a job Brownie!

Of course all the good (R) god squad :Falwell/Robinson/Hagee et al comments about God destroying Nawlins because of the "homosexuals" ect...will be replayed over an over plus shots of the Superdome....

Pastor John Hagee -- whose endorsement McCain said he was "glad to have" stated that"Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans."

"New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God....there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came."  However not offense enough to pander for a few votes...at a Town Hall.At the town hall one astute attendee pointed out to McCain ( requires Flash Player):

 

 

You can be assured that McCains folks did a better job of screening attendees after that.

Now flash ahead to flooded FEMA trailers...$150 oil showing how vulnerable offshore oil drill, drill , drilling is. Plus the oil spills...

 Your doing a heck of a job Brownie!

OF course McCain tried to get on the right side of Katrina with some spin.

John McCain toured still hurricane-damaged areas of New Orleans and declared that if the disaster had happened on his watch, he would have immediately landed his plane at the nearest Air Force base...

In fact on the day Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans, McCain was standing right next President Bush...celebrating his birthday.(slideshow)

Your doing a heck of a job Brownie!

For the record McCain voted against relief measures for Katrina victims multiple times, as well as voting against an investigation into the failures of the government response. McCain also voted against providing additional funding for first responders' communication systems, despite claiming otherwise.

Your doing a heck of a job Brownie!  John

 

Let's hope this is a rhetorical exercise vice a prediction.

 

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Big Trouble for Big Easy and Big Mac | 40 comments (40 topical, 0 hidden)
It will be funny .... (none / 0)
In a "Wrath and Vengence of God" sort of way if New Orleans goes under water again during the Republican's Convention...

But even you must admit that the Bush administration will overdo the relief effort this time around to make up for Katrina...

BTW - Whos damn fault is it that they keep rebuilding a city where this sort of terrible circumstance can happen? That would be the good people of New Orleans... Mostly Democrats I assume... Maybe God is trying to tell them something...

:)

by bobo1 on 08/28/2008 11:08:24 AM EST

Uh...no Mr Wizard ( Grand Wizard) (none / 0)

 Who's damn fault is it that they keep rebuilding a city where this sort of terrible circumstance can happen?

You could say the same for San Francisco, Los Angeles...damn California in general,Anchorage, most of Tornado alley, midwest on the Mississippi flood plane, New Madrid fault, Ohio valley,Florida, South Carolina, Outer Banks.

In fact only about  10% of the US has never had a state of emergency declared since they began tracking that sort of thing.

Of course those a lot of those areas have large white, or mostly white populations. As you were saying?

 Maybe God is trying to tell them something...

 Yeah...get out the vote.

 

by MRFred on 08/28/2008 11:22:05 AM EST

[ Parent ]
bobo has a point (none / 0)
With the situation the way it is, people are going to get killed in New Orleans every year or every other year, every time a hurricane blows through.

Hurricanes are only going to get stronger as global climate change becomes worse.  Engineering levees to withstand a category 5 OR GREATER storm is nearly impossible -- at least with the amount of money we are willing to budget for the project, and to be fair it would be a COLOSSAL expenditure when we could just relocate the people who live there.

We never should have allowed settlement in that area to begin with.  You can at least earthquake-proof to some extent -- and dangerous earthquakes are a lot less frequent than dangerous hurricanes.

by jarett on 08/28/2008 12:57:00 PM EST

[ Parent ]
no, bobo is an idiot as usual (none / 0)
New Orleans isn't an especially vulnerable city.  It has only become that way because of the awful land use policies that have destroyed the swamps and created too many canals around the city.  Actually Miami is a lot more vulnerable, and they get people killed just about every other year by a hurricane. 

by schmoab on 08/28/2008 01:04:53 PM EST

[ Parent ]
I agree (none / 0)
However, the problem is that we cannot go back to the old way in which the land naturally drained itself.

So now what?

by jarett on 08/29/2008 02:45:52 AM EST

[ Parent ]
Actually (none / 1)
I'm quite sure the barrier mangrove islands and natural habitats can be restored.  You would not believe the giant engineering efforts being done these days on a huge scale to restore habitats so that they function as they were meant to.  I just had to add this because my company is involved in some incredibly ambitious projects like this.  All it takes is good old American science and ingenuity, and tiny crumbs of the trillions being sent to Iraq. 

by desertpear on 08/30/2008 05:12:20 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Blame the French (none / 0)

We never should have allowed settlement in that area to begin with

Oh about May 7, 1718,

by MRFred on 08/28/2008 02:21:42 PM EST

[ Parent ]
New Orleans is going (none / 0)

Florida and the gulf coast are both doomed in the long run, the oceans are rising, Greenland and the icecaps are melting.  Let’s just hope the levies hold this time if Gustav hits.

But hey, the compassionate conservative "John McCain" is considering postponing the RNC for Gustav, has he heard Hanna is headed for Florida next.  When is the hurricane season over??? 

by cruzi on 08/28/2008 03:03:58 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Starts May 15 and ends November 30 (none / 0)
The peak is the next two weeks.

by MRFred on 08/28/2008 04:20:51 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Funny only to certain kinds of people (none / 0)

Mostly Democrats I assume... Maybe God is trying to tell them something...

If his message to New Orleans is "Repent Sinners!", then his message to Biloxi and Gulfport must be "Fuck you!  You're beyond redemption!".  I saw the Mississippi coast after Katrina.  It was a tangled pile of rubbish. He must hate Mississippi as much as he hates Florida.  In fact, he seems to hate red states in general.  I have word from those close to him that he's itching to fuck up Texas.

by bfaul on 08/28/2008 04:23:35 PM EST

[ Parent ]
comparing cities (none / 0)
The people of Gulfport rebuilt.

The people of Lake Charles rebuilt.

The people of Port Arthur rebuilt.

The people of Slidell rebuilt.

The people of Biloxi rebuilt.

But the people of New Orleans sat on their asses, after being told to evacuate, and then when the levee broke, they blamed everything on the government. They chose to live sub sea level, and then expected the rest of the country to spend billions so they can continue living sub sea level.

I guess it was all Bill Clinton's fault, because he was President for eight years, and he didn't build a levee that could sustain a CAT 5.

by KenTX on 08/28/2008 04:33:33 PM EST

[ Parent ]
woof! woof! (none / 0)
Do all Republican chihuahuas follow this same grade school talking point?

by bfaul on 08/28/2008 05:59:35 PM EST

[ Parent ]
What he really means is (none / 0)
The ( white) people of Gulfport rebuilt.

The ( white)people of Lake Charles rebuilt.

The ( white)people of Port Arthur rebuilt.

The ( white)people of Slidell rebuilt.

The ( white) people of Biloxi rebuilt

But the (black) people of New Orleans sat on their ( worthless shiftless) asses, after being told to evacuate, and then when the levee broke, they blamed everything on the government. They chose ( we emancipated them after all ) to live sub sea level, and then expected the rest of the country to spend billions so they can continue living sub sea level.

Of course the rich white folks on the coast expect, and get, billions so they can continue living the beach life. Or in the LA hills...

by MRFred on 08/28/2008 06:15:05 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Did He Lie, Fred? (none / 0)
I dont see anything untrue about Kens statement...

Do you? Honestly?

:)

by bobo1 on 08/28/2008 06:39:20 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Yes, as usuall...all spin. (5.00 / 2)
We tell people to evacuate who don't own cars, don't have the money..can't travel...and blame them for dying. I guess they needed bootstraps to pull themselves out of the water.

Of course comparing New Orleans with 3/4 of million people to towns with 15,000 to 40,000 people is always accurate.

And you gloss over the fact we spend billions to restore beach communities, flooded towns in the Midwest, tornadoes ravaged towns in Red states. We spend billions to restore beaches after bad storms...beaches populated by rich white people.

And as I said before you could say the same for San Francisco, Los Angeles,California in general,Anchorage, most of Tornado alley, Midwest on the Mississippi flood plane, New Madrid fault, Ohio valley,Florida, South Carolina, Outer Banks.

by MRFred on 08/28/2008 07:10:45 PM EST

[ Parent ]
I agree in part... (none / 0)
I agree that morons who build their houses on cliffs over the ocean in CA shouldn't get Federal Aid when it falls in during a mudslide - I agree that people who continue building damaged High Rises in places like SF and Anchorage should not get federal money. I even agree to the point where someone like Suzanne Sommers gets her house burnt down that she shouldn't be eligible for disaster relief - that's what she gets for living in a tinderbox canyon in Malibu. But those people in Nawlins know Gustav is coming. Ray Nagin has the money and school busses available to get the people upstate - but NO - he'll let all them go under again and cry bitch and moan for more of our taxmoney!!! Its like supplying a drug addict with drugs - why should we enable them to continue their idiocy? But idiocy is what you get when you elect Liberal like Nagin and Landrieu - It doesn't matter what color they are - Idiots are Idiots! :)

by bobo1 on 08/28/2008 08:25:32 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Idiots (none / 0)
Idiots come in all flavors...Conservatives and Liberals alike.

But those people in Nawlins know Gustav is coming.

They think...

So did those other folks in other areas..your point? Thats Nagins incompetence..liberal or otherwise.

by MRFred on 08/28/2008 08:42:12 PM EST

[ Parent ]
I'm all in favor of rebuilding (none / 0)
In fault zones and hurricane zones and tornado ally. Just as long as the home owner is paying the cost of rebuilding. If my house gets knocked down, the government aint giving me a penny.

by KenTX on 08/28/2008 11:40:58 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Uh huh... (none / 1)
If my house gets knocked down, the government aint giving me a penny.

Im sure you accept the largess of public works programs that protect your property. And  your insurance company(might) gives you other peoples money from a shared risk arrangement. I doubt seriously if your self insured.

FEMA is giving away 18 billion in Homeland security grants. I'm sure you being good Republican you will refuse the government programs and build your own civil defense network on your property. In any case I am wondering where you get the idea the gov "gives" people money to rebuild their homes (other than selected cases in the Road Home program for Louisiana..Red State)? No, more likely your making up another macho response to red herring talking points.

La lost 123,000 homes and 82,000 rental units in Katrina. a rebuilding program of the scope and complexity required has never before been attempted, anywhere.

Guess what ,its administered by a private, for profit company...that should make you happy. FEMA provides grants of emergency funds to mitigate the immediate effects of a disaster. I suppose we should allow the bodies to pull them selves up by there boot straps.

Back to money;lNew Orleans is one of the largest commercial sea ports in the US and the only port of entry for the Mississippi the major commerce highway in the US. I guess we should let it collapse back to where it came from.

So what's your solution smart guy? Allow hurricanes to decimate the Eastern seaboard? We should all move to the 10% of the country that has never experienced a disaster?

by MRFred on 08/29/2008 09:08:45 AM EST

[ Parent ]
What's my solution? (none / 0)
Do not rebuild below sea level. Anybody who does that is on his own to secure insurance, and the goverment will not bail them out after the next hurricane. If you're a very rich person, and you have the money to build on the coast, you better have good insurance, because the goverment will no longer bail you out. The government should not be responsible for people who stubbornly build in the flood plane, or on the coast, or below sea level, or right on top of the fault line.

by KenTX on 08/29/2008 03:10:46 PM EST

[ Parent ]
One caveat (none / 0)

Flood planes change over time. A lot.

Coastlines do to apparently. But not as much.

Sea level is changing a little.

Fault lines...I got nothing.

by ProfRich on 08/29/2008 03:24:34 PM EST

[ Parent ]
As Al Franken used to say (none / 0)

these are "weasel words".  The situations are very different, but the implication is (OF COURSE) a racist one.  Big surprise that you agree with it.

And the reason you don't see anything untrue about it is because the s and m mask that Ken makes you wear has the eye zippers closed.

by Spencer on 08/28/2008 06:53:25 PM EST

[ Parent ]
You wouldn't (none / 1)

His statement is fucking stupid.  It doesn't even rise to the level of an argument.  I'll bet he hasn't been to Biloxi since the Hurricane struck it.  If he had he would have seen that only the Casinos and commercial properties have been rebuilt.  There is still mile after mile of nothing but foundations and lots where houses use to stand.  For a year afterward large portions of it looked like a trash heap.  At least they've finally bulldozed and cleaned up most of it.  Most people were too broke or dispirited to rebuild there.  A veterans retirement home that used to thrive there is still padlocked and empty.  Some few have rebuilt houses up on high pilings.  For most people it's simply been too much. 

Long stretches of the shore along Cameron parish and stretches east and west of it are still empty.  Some people rebuilt, some moved away, some still hold on to their lots and hope to be able to rebuild someday.  Large numbers of them got federal assistance or loans to repair and/or rebuild.  I know some of them well.  The ones I know personally are ALL white.  They share with the people of New Orleans a fairly passionate hatred of insurance companies because of their business practices after the two storms.  My guess is that our resident jerkoff from Texas probably hasn't visited there either.

Nor does it sound like he's been to New Orleans, where large portions of town have been rebuilt, although many still stand empty.  Some people have left for good, others have rebuilt, still others haven't decided what they're going to finally do.  Many of them have come to work in the town where I live.  There's nothing different about them, they're just people who got caught by a disaster.  But to people like him, if a person lived and worked there for thirty years cleaning houses for a living and renting a little place from some tenament owner in the 9th ward and had their whole lives destroyed by a flood which resulted in their apartment getting bulldozed they're 'stupid" or "lazy" or got what they "deserved".  If it's someone who had a $400,000 home destroyed that got a low interest government grant or loan to rebuild that's somehow a different story.  I suppose because their house is worth more, it's kind of hard to say because I have trouble following the twisted psychology of that thinking. All I can figure is he or his family must have been poor when he was small.  It must have been a great source of shame to him.  How else do you explain this almost psychotic contempt he holds for anyone he thinks doesn't own a lot of property.  It show's a great weakness of character.  It leaks like a putrid puss from just about every post he makes.

by bfaul on 08/29/2008 01:28:56 AM EST

[ Parent ]
Why New Orleans should not be rebuilt. (none / 0)
It lies below sea level, in the sweet spot of the hurricane zone.
dumbassville
Anybody who rebuilds here should have to use their own money, and find their own insurance.

by KenTX on 09/01/2008 08:32:15 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Florida. (none / 0)
and find their own insurance.

Good luck with that. I don't live in a flood zone. Many houses in this neighborhood have been here since the 1920s and have never sustained hurricane damage. (The building I live in is much newer and up to current hurricane codes.)  I can't find a single underwriter in my area to even entertain the thought of writing me a renters insurance policy.  

Thankfully I don't own a property that I'd have to struggle to insure - I am not talking just about vastly increasing prices. You can wake up to a letter that your coverage is being dropped for no real reason (even with no claims in 30+ years), and then you start the search for someone to even give you a quote.

I've considered going with Florida's 'insurer of last resort' Citizen's. It just seems counter-productive to have the state carrying so much liability because private insurance companies won't offer coverage (at any price.)

by jazzchic on 09/03/2008 11:09:24 AM EST

[ Parent ]
awesome post (none / 1)

Keep pounding home the message:  While Americans died in a natural disaster of epic proportions, John McCain was EATING CAKE."   Let them eat cake, indeed.  Let's have a president who cares about our cities and our people rather than an old coot who is so out of touch he can't even use the Google. 

HAMMER HOME THE MESSAGE!!!  Stop with the stupid infighting about Hillary--that's exactly the trap the Republicans have set for Dems.  Quit falling for it and let's get down to the business of electing Obama!!!

by desertpear on 08/28/2008 03:25:49 PM EST

Imbecile patrol (none / 0)
I’m not surprised, but I’m fairly disgusted by yet another thread of liberals celebrating potential political advantage from pain and suffering and disaster.
Yipee! Maybe another Cat 5 hurricane will hit New Orleans and the levee will break again.
Yahoo! Maybe American forces will lose to al Qaeda in Iraq, and we can declare surrender, and airlift the remaining troops in helicopters.
Hooray!! Maybe the stock market will crash like it did in 1929, and the country will suffer a major economic depression, so we can bring back New Deal Socialism.
Kowabunga! Maybe the Soviet Union will reconstitute itself so we can have a Cold War again, and America will no longer be the Big Bad Hegemonic Bully.

Is there a limit to the catastrophe you people are willing to wish upon your country, when the ultimate objective is liberal control and redistribution of wealth?

“New Orleans isn't an especially vulnerable city.  It has only become that way because of the awful land use policies that have destroyed the swamps and created too many canals around the city.” 
Did you know that New Orleans was positioned above sea level when it was founded in the 1700s? Yep. That’s what happens when you levee-up a river delta. The land subsides, just like it did in Amsterdam. New Orleans is a city that shouldn’t exist, because it is 20 feet below sea level, in the sweet spot of the Hurricane Ally catcher’s mitt. It is inherently at odds with nature, and sooner or later, nature will reclaim the delta.

There’s plenty of land to build on that is not sub sea level. Smart people are building north of the lake in an unusually habitable area of Louisiana. Lot’s of people moved 70 miles west to Baton Rouge. It’s not necessary to live under water.
new orleans

by KenTX on 08/28/2008 03:41:06 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Hypocrite Patrol (none / 0)
I’m not surprised, but I’m fairly disgusted by yet another thread of liberals conservatives celebrating potential political advantage from pain and suffering and disaster.

 

You mean like 9-11?

"In the summer of 2002, less than one year after the most traumatic day in modern American history, the Bush White House made the decision to "run on the war." In the days after 9/11, the American people came together; Republicans and Democrats largely put their ideological differences to the side and pledged their support for the war on terror. Overwhelming majorities favored our invasion of Afghanistan, a move that we all agreed was an eminently logical and necessary response to the 9/11 attacks. The world was with us too. The coalition of the willing including just about everyone.

But in the summer of 2002, Bush and his advisors made a fateful decision. They looked around, saw a unified nation, and decided it was time to cash in politically. They decided to turn terrorism and war into political issues and use them to solidify GOP control of Congress. Suddenly, veterans like Max Cleland found themselves being attacked for being soft on terrorism because they took issue with the labor provisions of the Homeland Security Act. Karl Rove and his surrogates made a point of characterizing any Democratic disagreement with anything as being "soft on terror."

And from that point on, there was no turning back. The GOP was carried to victory by the fumes of a national unity that would soon be completely dried up." Millennium - Journal of International Studies

 

 

Actions that YOU celebrated time and time again right here on these pages. There are so many examples that I really dont need to link them. Your such a hypocrite.

Is there a limit to the catastrophe you people are willing to wish upon your country?

Well, why do you think we are voting for anyone but McCain.

by MRFred on 08/28/2008 04:54:20 PM EST

[ Parent ]
we'd like it even better (none / 0)

If it hit Texas and got your expensive shoes wet.

by desertpear on 08/28/2008 05:21:31 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Don't forget (none / 0)
Bush also played the banjo at that photo-op with McCain.  I think he did it as a sign of solidarity for our southern brothers, so it's not like they did nothing.  ;)

by Spencer on 08/28/2008 03:43:12 PM EST

[ Parent ]
My prediction (none / 0)

 

I figure it will give them the perfect excuse to whisk Bush away from the Republican convention before the radioactive aura of his failures cast a green glow on the convention floor.  For this hurricane I think he should be put to work clearing brush, the only presidential chore for which he has demonstrated any aptitude at all.

You know the Republicans, they'll pretend now in the 11th hour that they give a shit about governing.  I'm sure they'll put on a great show.

 

by bfaul on 08/28/2008 04:05:55 PM EST

my prediction (none / 0)
I think Bush and Jindal will be in Grand Isle, waiting for Gustav to come in. They will probably give speeches to the convention via satellite link up that look like this. 

by KenTX on 08/28/2008 04:20:05 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Wrong (none / 0)
Jindal and Bush will try to exorcise it away


Strangely, I found myself repeating the Hail Mary until it became a chant. Being a recent convert to Catholicism, I had yet to accept the Catholic doc­trines concerning Mary and considered any form of Marian devotion to be idolatry. Though I had never before prayed a Hail Mary in my life, I suddenly found myself incapable of any other form of prayer. Somehow, Mary's intercessions allowed me to find peace during that long night; I knew that I had sur­vived the worst and that I would exit with my faith intact. It terrified me to recall how close I came to turning away from Christ out of fear.

The crucifix had a calming effect on Susan, and her sister was soon brave enough to bring a Bible to her face. At first, Susan responded to biblical pas­sages with curses and profanities. Mixed in with her vile attacks were short and desperate pleas for help. In the same breath that she attacked Christ, the Bible's authenticity, and everyone assembled in prayer, Susan would suddenly urge us to rescue her. It appeared as if we were observing a tremendous battle between the Susan we knew and loved and some strange evil force. But the momentum had shifted and we now sensed that victory was at hand.

While Alice and Louise held Susan, her sister continued holding the Bible to her face. Almost taunting the evil spirit that had almost beaten us minutes before, the students dared Susan to read biblical passages. She choked on certain passages and could not finish the sentence "Jesus is Lord." Over and over, she repeated "Jesus is L..L..LL," often ending in profanities. In between her futile attempts, Susan pleaded with us to continue trying and often smiled between the grimaces that accompanied her readings of Scripture. Just as suddenly as she went into the trance, Susan suddenly reappeared and claimed "Jesus is Lord."

With an almost comical smile, Susan then looked up as if awakening from a deep sleep and asked, "Has something happened?" She did not re­member any of the past few hours and was startled to find her friends breaking out in cheers and laugh­ter, overwhelmed by sudden joy and relief. Bobby Jindal


by MRFred on 08/28/2008 05:05:45 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Jindal is a kook (none / 0)
Too bad he's not on the short list.

by desertpear on 08/28/2008 05:17:00 PM EST

[ Parent ]
He's not bad (none / 0)
I've met him in person three times now.  I talked to him briefly twice and heard him speak multiple times.  He's intelligent enough and friendly as a person.  He does not display the kind of idiotic views so ubiquitous to KenTX's posts.  That much I can tell you.  He's more like the Republicans were before they became stuck on stupid.

by bfaul on 08/28/2008 06:08:14 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Now... (none / 0)
Is this your view of him before or after he exorcised your demons?

by Spencer on 08/28/2008 06:12:57 PM EST

[ Parent ]
lol (none / 0)
OK, I was judging him on very little evidence.  But he seems a bit young to be a VP for a prez who might drop dead at any moment.  I just hate the whole exorcism story.

by desertpear on 08/28/2008 11:18:05 PM EST

[ Parent ]
I can also confirm (none / 0)
that people have been snickering over that excorcism thing for a long time around here.

by bfaul on 08/29/2008 09:09:14 AM EST

[ Parent ]
Nah! (none / 0)

 

They'll find some way to blame Democrats for the hurricane - or say it's a warning from gawd not to elect Obama.

Some people will believe it...

by MedfordTim on 08/28/2008 04:26:19 PM EST

3 Years Later? (none / 0)

Just three years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans confronts a new threat from Gustav and a stark question: Will the partially rebuilt levees hold? -NEW ORLEANS (AP)

Its good the war is going so well, perhaps when we finish killing people for oil we can spend a few dollars on infrastructure?

by cruzi on 08/28/2008 06:37:11 PM EST

Big Trouble for Big Easy and Big Mac | 40 comments (40 topical, 0 hidden)
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