"The Inmates Are Managing the Assylum"

“The Insider”
Good news or bad news?


Apparently, the US Army Corps of Engineers is moving ahead to repair the levees that protect New Orleans from storm surges.
Other areas of New Orleans are being rebuilt, too.

That’s the good news!

The president claims that he is committed to rebuilding New Orleans and wants Congress to approve the 4.2 billion dollar request for aid to this storm battered city.

That also seems like good news!

On the surface, the US Corps of Engineers program supported by the president’s bid would seem on the surface to be welcome news for weary New Orleans residents who after six months still find their lives in shambles…

However, the Insider learned that there is a big fly in the ointment that seems to have been well hidden from public scrutiny.

While the US Army Corps of Engineers is rebuilding, and there is no question about that, it is rebuilding according to a plan in place that dates back to 1959. It is in effect rebuilding to the standard in place prior to the present storm which down=sized from a category 4 to a category 3 storm before it hit New Orleans.

Most scientists had recommended that the levees be rebuilt to a category four or better standard inasmuch as recent storms have increased in severity due to the warming waters in and around the Gulf.. A planned simulation that took place a year before Katrina indicated that in view of Global Warming, the present standards needed to be raised if the city of New Orleans was to be protected. The Congress rejected the budgeting and the plan was shelved. That was prior to Katrina.

Therefore, assuming that FEMA will proceed with plans to rebuild parts of New Orleans previously flooded necessitating the removal of upwards of 25, 000 homes, suggests that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.

To get an idea of the foolishness of this program, think in terms of rebuilding the Titanic exactly the way it was because you know that there are bigger and more dangerous icebergs out there. Right now, the best thinking of meteorologists and other scientists who have weighed in suggest that storms similar or more severe than Katrina are likely under the present scenario to pummel the city. Clearly, mismanagement exists at every level and FEMA still cannot get its act together.

Les Aaron