I’ve noticed, as have others who have commented on the same thing (albeit in different places), that it’s taking me longer and longer each day to “make the rounds.” I kept track of the time I spent reading blogs yesterday, and it was four hours…give or take 15 minutes or so. I spent this time exclusively with the folks on the blogroll, and that includes chasing quite a few of the links my blog-buddies include with their posts.
The time I spend reading blogs has increased a lot lately, and that’s mostly a function of the increased size of the blogroll. I’m not complaining, mind you, as I firmly believe the time I spend reading blogs is time well-spent. And it’s winter, so the mo’sickle riding has been severely curtailed, along with my other usual, customary, and reasonable outdoor activities. But what happens when the weather turns nice again? Dilemma happens…that’s what.
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Speaking of blogs… I’ve yet to mention that Lou is in
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My new just over a month-old scanner has been sitting unemployed for the whole year. You may remember, Gentle Reader, that I mentioned I was gonna retrieve my photo archives from SN2’s custody when I went up to Omaha for the holidays and launch a massive scanning project upon my return to P-Ville.
Well,
I can’t wait. But I will.
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Ooooh. That’s gonna leave a mark! (Sorry, TripleE…won’t happen again.) Gerard comes right out and says what a lot of folks have been thinking:
I've considered the matter of
I've weighed the never-ending, and now maudlin, saccharine suffering of its people against my now limitless cache of compassion fatigue. They have been found wanting.
To be fair and just, here's what I propose we give
I love N’Awlins and I wish its citizens well. But I also wish their government…state, parishes, and municipal…would get off their collective asses, get off the FedTeat, and get to work. I’m speaking in generalities here whereas Gerard really isn’t. Still and even, after arguing The Big Easy should just be bulldozed and turned into wetlands (my words, not his) Gerard makes a few valid points. Provocative, and all that.
There’s a lot of good work going on in N’Awlins, mainly in the private sector, but there’s more…much more…soul-sucking, begging, and cajoling…and outright graft… in play by all levels of government, as well. That’s what I’m p!ssed about.
BTW…Gerard also mentions there’s a lawsuit for damages against the federal gub’mint…filed by a Katrina victim, of course…in the amount of three quadrillion dollars. You read that right: quadrillion. My mind is boggled. Now there’s some real chutzpah. Must’ve took that “Go Big, or Go Home” thing to heart.
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Today’s Pic: Not all sunrises and sunsets in P-Ville are spectacular. I went out the other night and took elebenty-lebben pics of the sunset, and this was as good as it got.
And here I am: reduced to posting filler. This will change, Gentle Reader…when the archives arrive.
BUCK! I totally totally totally totally AGREE with your comments about New Orleans. Enough already! You people down there need to solve your own problems. If you can't, then it really is time to bulldoze the city and move upstream. The federal government does not exist to hand out QUADRILLIONS of American dollars to you people.
ReplyDeleteQuadrillion, huh? Didn't think I'd see that number used for anything practical in my lifetime.
ReplyDeleteSo when the feds use my dollars to pay out, do we all get a smile and a thank you?
I think I mentioned on Cookie's site that N.O. should be bulldozed into the Gulf and used for fishing reef's....but wetlands are OK too.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the subject of Scotlant - few beauties I've seen parallel its heart-strumming grandeur, and none have excelled it. Breathtaking. And I've only seen it in winter - Quite a treat.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the New Orleans issue-- likewise, I don't think we should compensate Hawaiians if one of the volcanoes they live atop decides to go active. THEY chose to live there, deal with it.
Sharon: we're on exactly the same wavelength.
ReplyDeleteMorgan: The only place I've ever seen the number used is in astronomy. If that lawsuit is successful I don't think we'll see a pay-out. I think we'll see a revolution.
Pat: Wetlands are best, IMHO.
Phlegmmy: Where and when were you in Scotland, in winter? I have a war story that might get told about TSMP and I driving south from around Edinburgh in a successful attempt to outrun a mid-April blizzard in 1981. We were on a camping trip and awoke to find a couple inches of snow on our tent one morning...
Thanks for the plug. I did see some countryside today, but unfortunately it was with a local who I did not understand that I took 85 photos just yesterday at Dunnottar Castle. I probably ony took 10 photos today, but I did love the country.
ReplyDeleteI agree on NO.
I am actually surprised that I learned something from this New Orleans story. I never heard of "quadrillion" before. I always thought after trillion came *bazillion* and after that came *gazillion*.
ReplyDeleteWho knew?
Glad to know so many folks read about the quadrillion thing and decided to take the plaintiff's version of Dr. Evil as seriously as this. Do you know how many wackos out there fill out the litigation forms in crayon and never get any press? That's why we have judges - to take care of garbage like that.
ReplyDeleteAs a nation, we rebuild both Carolinas and Florida every four years on average, but I rarely see people calling them "teat-sucking," complaining victims draining the tax base, even though those places get hundreds of billions as well. And not a single person anywhere is complaining about the retirement communities building 2 feet above the water on landfill in Texas, Florida and the Carolinas.
And to hear that $127 billion figure that went not just to New Orleans but the whole Gulf Coast, from Texas to Florida. We won't even discuss how much of that went to rebuild Federal infrastructure and installations themselves. But let's not let that sort of numbers crunching get in the way of the "let's all hate New Orleans" fantasy.
What really saddens me, as an American, is that this is the first real time there has ever been such venom aimed at a region, a city and a people devastated by disaster. It is a shame to see how far this nation has fallen as to balk at rebuilding a part of itself. Shameful. This is why we pay taxes in this nation, so that one day, when disaster comes to your door, you ain't out here all alone. That's what it means to be a part of a nation.
The comfort comes in knowing that somewhere around 2 million Americans have poured their hearts and hands into this rebuilding, and have come down here themselves to pitch in. Far more have donated blood, food, supplies, opened up their homes and communities to the evacuees and opened up their wallets to help others in a time of need. And they continue to do this, all without making judgements, threats and name-calling, knowing silently that 'there but for the Grace of God go I'. That's something this nation can be proud of.
As one who has been to NO just recently...they seem to be doing JUST FINE. Do you hear any of the other cities devastated by that Bitch, whining like the Easy? No, so what the...shut the #%$!& up already!
ReplyDeleteSharon sez: I always thought after trillion came *bazillion* and after that came *gazillion*.
ReplyDeleteLOL! Can I add my "me, too"?
Cousin Pat: Thanks for dropping by. You might actually BE my cousin, for all I know...I was born in Georgia.
You make some good points...but if you notice, I said there was a lot of good work being done in N'Awlins in the private sector, and my issue was with the LA governments, at all levels. It's instructive to note Mississippi seems to be doing pretty well and was just as devastated as NO.
I don't agree with your "...such venom aimed at a region, a city and a people devastated by disaster." statement. There IS lots of venom, to be sure, but once again: the displeasure is aimed at corrupt, inefficient government, not the region or people themselves... unless you want to extrapolate "the people" (as in "we...the people") into the government.
Just sayin', although I'm quite sure you've left a drive-by comment and won't return to read the riposte.
I've gotten a bit behind on my blog reading, so I'm late in commenting on this. Turns out there was no need since you stole my thunder.
ReplyDeleteWhat I was going to say was how if you get technical about it, the hurricane actually hit Mississippi, and not NO. New Orleans was just sideswiped. Still plenty of damage, though. However, Mississippi received just as much damage, with entire towns wiped out. Yet where is the media sympathy for them? Where is the Bush hates Mississippians rhetoric?
I could go on, but the point is, you won't hear anything about MS.
MS is doing quite well in the rebuilding department. That's the difference between having a governor who stands about wringing her hands and whining for somebody to do something, and a governor who said, "Ok, folks. Let's get busy cleaning up." (Figuratively speaking, of course.)
First of all, really sorry to bloviate. There's really so much going on here, you need a flow chart to keep up.
ReplyDeleteI don't leave drive by comments, especially when it comes to family matters and I appear to be dealing with some rational folks over here.
And don't think I don't appreciate you making the distinction between the government down here (aw. ful. but changing) and the people. But you're almost the only blogger I've read outside the disaster zone making such a distinction.
Everyone else (including many comments here) seems to think that things here are "just fine" and that all the complaining has to do with getting a handout. To those folks, I invite them to come see more than just the French Quarter and Uptown. Vital parts of the city are fine, but other vital parts still look like a bad day in Bosnia. And, having been down here with family attempting to assist for quite some time, I haven't seen very many people getting 'handouts' at all.
Keep in mind again that Mississippi got a chunk of the "127 billion" and distributed their recovery monies in a far different way than Louisiana did. Mississippi, as far as I know, set a whole lot of people to the task of appraisal and disbursement, while Louisiana contracted that out to a private business.
Also, though both states were knocked on their asses, the geographic phase of the destruction was quite different. While the storm surge completely and totally obliterated the Mississippi coast (one of my best friends lives in Long Beach) the levee failure that flooded New Orleans left a complex mess of infrastructure buckled and almost useless, but still standing.
While the effect of the damage was the same (read: total), in Mississippi, they rolled in dump trucks and backhoes, picked up the debris and started rebuilding. Meanwhile in New Orleans, the first thing anyone had to do was to figure out if the home or business could be gutted and rebuilt, and if so, could the neighborhood sustain a rebuilding based on what infrastructure was left, most importantly how the US Army Corp of Engineers planned to rebuild the outflow canals that failed during the storm (a plan that is, to date, not fully completed).
The climbing dollar figures come from 1) initial estimates of the damage to the city of New Orleans were low, there is a great deal of infrastructure repair that remains to be seen or done and 2) that the City of New Orleans doesn't actually build and maintain all of its own infrastructure. The port is so important, strategically and economically, that the Federal government is involved in a great many decisions concerning the locality, and the powers that be in the local, state and federal governments have had trouble communicating effectively for quite some time.
New Orleans not getting "one more dime" would require the Federal government giving up massive holdings and budgets of their own to the city and the state. Thing is, they'd also have to renegotiate many revenue generators in the port and the natural resource infrastructure to do that.
Cousin Pat said: ...There's really so much going on here, you need a flow chart to keep up.
ReplyDeleteI don't leave drive by comments, especially when it comes to family matters and I appear to be dealing with some rational folks over here.
First: Agreed on the flow-chart thing. That and a directory for the cast of characters.
Second: Sorry about my assumption, re: "drive-bys." I get that a lot from folks who google something, read about it here, comment and then they're off into the ether,never to return. I'm glad not everyone is built that way!
Third: Thanks for the "rational folks" comment. I can't speak for everyone who comes by, but I try to maintain a respectful environment. Name-calling and disparaging remarks in general just don't make for good dialog. And that's what I'm after.
Once again, CP, you make some good points. Things are hardly ever what they seem at first glance, and the New Orleans situation IS complicated.
I also noted, with hope, your new governor was inaugurated yesterday (aw. ful. but changing.). While I didn't (couldn't) watch his entire inaugural speech, it was interesting to note the snippets selected by the media for our spoon-feeding focused on corruption. Jindal has his work cut out for him, methinks, but like the rest of LA...I wish him well.
Once again: thanks for dropping by. And thanks for the explanation/illumination. Much appreciated.
The reason you don't "hear" any complaining from the other devastated communities is that you are not "hearing" anything from those communities because the news doesn't cover them. I spent Christmas at my mother's in Pass Christian, MS. The town STILL consists of trailers and slabs. It is NOT because people are lazy and selfish, just like the people of New Orleans are not selfish and corrupt. It is because of all kind of bureacratic and capitalistic obstacles put in the way. Things are far from right in the Katrina devastated areas. If you can ignore it by demonizing the people living under such hard circumstances, go for it. We are going to rebuild anyway. We will just be sadder and wiser about what it truly means to "be an American". This country has lost its way.
ReplyDeleteIf you can ignore it by demonizing the people living under such hard circumstances, go for it. We are going to rebuild anyway. We will just be sadder and wiser about what it truly means to "be an American". This country has lost its way.
ReplyDeleteWho might this "you" be, DoctorJ? I might just take offense at this comment. But then again, perhaps I won't.
As for "this country has lost its way," well...to each his own. I think we're doing just fine, thankyouverymuch.
And thanks for dropping by. Alternate opinions are always heard here... even if they're most often not agreed with.