Oct 2004 prediction of the New Orleans disaster.

[swestrup]

The prediction was in the Oct 2004 issue of National Geographic and gave a good description of exactly what could (and did) happen to New Orleans. It mentioned that it was in the top 3 or 4 of FEMA's worst case disaster scenarios for America, up there with a terrorist attack on New York or a major earthquake in LA.

They also mentioned that the Bush administration slashed the budget for the plan that was drawn up to try and reduce the risks. Then again, in this case they may have been right. Not much work would have managed to be accomplished before Katrina struck. Then again again, the Bush administration wouldn't have known that either. *sigh*

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I don't really blame the federal government for the levy problem just because they did not provide funds to improve it. This has been a known problem to New Orleans for almost 100 years. Yes, Bush tuned down the funding that would have helped improve it... but so did Clinton, and Bush Senior, and Regan in years past. Also remember that the New Orleans could have voted in their own tax dollars at anytime to fix the problem in their city. There are many ways that they could have created a tax to get the funds - Mardi Gras taxes, a 1/4% sales tax, etc. People have to take responsbility for their own cities and not rely on the Federal government to give them everything that they need. I personally don't think that it is "fair" for my tax dollars to go to reinforce a levy in Lousiana that the people of Lousiana had not already tried to resolve with their own dollars (i.e. let my tax dollars help them rather than do it all)

[lasher.livejournal.com]

that was me above. i didnt realize that I wasnt logged in. oops. lol

[(Anonymous)]

Good to see someone supporting personal responsibility
-Jim
http://www.geocities.com/forpropertyrights
15:07 EDT

[lasher.livejournal.com]

yea, i am all for personal responsbility. certainly, it would make sense to help provide funding for the levy since New Orleans is like the 5th largest port for the US and huge amounts of commerce takes place there. i just don't think that the federal government should foot the entire bill... it should be a joint effort

[(Anonymous)]

Here's the Livejournal of a man who stayed in New
Orleans and kept an ISP running downtown using an
onsite power generator -- quite an "Omega Man" story,
or scenario. They had a live cam going the whole time,
plus a guy going around taking pictures. They didn't
seem to be in a flooded area in the CBD (Central
Business District).
http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor
I found this link while casually browsing the "User
Friendly" (http://www.userfriendly.org) reader postings
-- perhaps you found it yourself! Lord, the "chatnet"
is huge! Usenet, Livejournals, other websites that
support posting...

-Jim
http://www.geocities.com/jameswi.geo
...On a clear disk, you can seek forever...
5:10PM EDT
PS The "spam robot challenge" letters are too hard for
a human (me) to read!

[(Anonymous)]

The knowledge of the existance of government bailouts
enocourages people to live in dangerous areas, and get
killed, because a massive central bureaucracy just can't
move very fast (as peoples' expectations). And then
people are surprised and angry...
The knowledge of the existance of government bailouts
enocourages people to live in dangerous areas. You get
more of what you pay for! If you send money and care and
resources to people living in dangerous areas, surprise,
surprise, you get more people living in dangerous areas
(and then dying).
You should reconsider your advocacy of increasing the big
government of the US (federal government) (here in its
modern role as big nanny). After all, the
reason that gets pointed to for the obnoxiousness of the
USA is the military intervention of the US federal government
in other countries. Calling for an increase in the size
and power of the US nanny state will encourage its growth,
which will encourage its ability to intervene militarily in
other countries. War is the ultimate government program!
Notice how failed big government policies (inflation, leading
to booms, then busts, suffering economies, etc) always seem to
result in calls for more big government policies? -- Until
finally what is called for is a nice big war! "That'll fix
everything!"
I have a friend in the states who is remarkably similar
to you in his views and you would see eye-to-eye if you
both lived in the same country! But there are few people
who will butt heads harder than big-government advocates
living in (different) nearby countries. Viz the lovely
relations of the Soviet Union with Nazi Germany or with
Red China - pacts dissolved into glowering hostility.
Totalitarian regimes book not the slightest differences
in viewpoint. Compare this with the historic longest
undefended border between the comparatively very free
countries of the USA and Canada.
Really, it's the cancer of the US federal government that
is taking over the beautiful USA and turning it into a
nasty fascist prison camp. The constitution for the USA
is a devilish bit of pyschohistory that has given the US
federal government more reason to grow than a Godzilla
chick on a weight-gaining diet.
-Jim
http://www.geocities.com/forpropertyrights
(all contemplated flames have been routed to dev/null)

[(Anonymous)]

That should be
"Totalitarian regimes *brook* not the slightest differences
in viewpoint."
It's amusing that the LJ anti-spam mechanism made me enter
a visual check-code to clear my short comment(s) of today but
didn't make a fuss over the foregoing monster.
-Jim
http://www.geocities.com/jameswi.geo