Here's how YOU can help us in New Orleans

[funkybutt]

The fate of the city is dependent on the people returning. Citizens and business are reluctant and scared to return if we don't have a commitment from the Federal Government to correct the mistakes THEY made which caused this tragic disaster. The Army Corps of Engineers' OWN REPORT lays the blame on THEIR WORK. The Feds messed it up. Catagory 1 storm surge breached our levee system, NOT category 3 protection (which we were told that we had).

Here's what you can do:

FLOOD EM!!

Contact Congress


The fate of greater New Orleans' levees lies with the committees and lawmakers below. These leaders won't know how you feel about the need to upgrade greater New Orleans' flood-protection system unless they hear it from you.

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER

Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn.; 509 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; [phone]; Web site: www.frist.senate.gov. Email can be sent to this Senator Frist via a mailform on his site.

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss, chairman; 113 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; [phone]; e-mail address: [e-mail].

Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., ranking member; 311 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; [phone]. E-mail can be sent to Senator Byrd via a mailform on his website at: http://byrd.senate.gov/

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska; 522 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; [phone]; Web site: www.stevens.senate.gov

SENATE BUDGET COMMITTEE

Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., chairman; 393 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; [phone]; Web site: www.gregg.senate.gov

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., ranking member; 530 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; [phone]; Web site: www.conrad.senate.gov

SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman; 453 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; [phone]; Web site: www.inhofe.senate.gov

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., ranking member; 511 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; [phone]; e-mail address: [e-mail]

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE

Rep. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.; 235 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; [phone]; Web site: www.house.gov/hastert

HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER

Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; 217 Cannon House Office Building; Washington, D.C. 20515; [phone]; Web site: www.blunt.house.gov

HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., chairman; 2112 Rayburn House Office Building; Washington, D.C. 20515; [phone]; Web site: www.house.gov/jerrylewis

Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., ranking member; 2314 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; [phone]; Web site: www.obey.house.gov

HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE

Rep. Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, chairman; 303 Cannon House Office Building; Washington, D.C. 20515; [phone]. E-mail can be sent to Congressman Nussle via a mailform on his website at: http://nussle.house.gov/

Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., ranking member; 1401 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; [phone]; Web site: www.house.gov/spratt

HOUSE RESOURCES COMMITTEE

Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., chairman; 2411 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; [phone]; e-mail: [e-mail]

Rep. Nick J. Rahall II, D-W.Va., ranking member; 2307 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; [phone]; e-mail: [e-mail]

HOUSE TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, chairman; 2111 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; [phone]; Web site: www.donyoung.house.gov

Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn, ranking member; 2365 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; [phone]; Web site: www.oberstar.house.gov

[Tony_Illinois]

1. New Orleans and Louisiana Residents and Politicians

are ultimately responsible for this disaster, aren't they? It had been known for quite some time that there was a risk of a Katrina-like catastrophe in New Orleans due to the levy system's weaknesses and the city's being dangerously below sea level.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune published a prescient series a couple of years ago on the risks to the city, and everyone is aware that in 2001 FEMA warned that a major hurricane hitting New Orleans was one of the top three natural disasters facing the country. Still, Bush cut funding for New Orleans flood control by 44% since that time. Additionally, Bush refused to allow the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a study last year on how to protect New Orleans against a potential catastrophe.

My point is, while all this was happening (and not happening), where were the people of New Orleans and their representatives? Why NOW must everyone else do your work for you? Why wasn't this information and the ongoing risk everyone down there lived with enough to cause anybody to organize, take those risks seriously, and to force your "representatives" to do so as well?

I do not support this administration and their ruinous policies both at home and overseas. Their response to Hurricane Katrina was clueless and inefficient. Also, I have lived in New Orleans and have family and friends who were displaced by this disaster. But just as I do not understand why the government has all but abandoned the city, I do not understand why the locals allowed themselves to remain so vulnerable.

[babylonsister]

2. What do you suggest the residents should have done when

every bill put forth to secure the levees was shot down? How do you 'fight city hall'? We're all living through this nightmare of a republican-controlled congress.

[funkybutt]

3. Every level of government owns SOME responsibility

But our representatives HAVE for YEARS been pushing for better protection and coastal restoration, which was always ignored by the feds. It's one of the main platform many of our representatives in Washington ran on. The fact is, while Louisiana politicians could have done more the responsibility for CONSTRUCTION of these levees was the Army Corps of Engineers.

I find it offensive that you you are suggesting that "everyone" ELSE is doing our work for us. Louisiana provides around 30% of the oil for the rest of the country and gets almost NOTHING for it. Other states LIKE TEXAS get 100% of their oil revenues, Alaska and other states get 50%. If we were able to use the revenue from OUR resources, we could take care of our OWN levee system and restore the wetlands. Then YOU wouldn't have to do OUR work for us.

And as for "where were we"...we were prepared. Over 1 million people evacuated this area, which is the biggest shift in population since the Civil War. We had our hurricane preparedness plan in place and got out of town. But we never figured that category ONE storm surge was going to breach out system that was sold to us BY THE FEDS as capable of protecting from category 3.

The fact is, negligence, incompetence that was in my opinion criminal, resulted in the worst disaster in American History. It wasn't a natural disaster that flooded my house...it was MAN MAD and it was also the worst engineering "mistake" in American History.

To be honest, I'm really sick of being told that it was my somehow my fault that I lost everything b/c I chose to live here. Had I known we had less than Category 1 protection, I certainly wouldn't have!

[ananda]

9. La. is a damred state!

You got what you voted for!

I have a theory that a lot of people are willing to play martyr for rich Republicans.

After all, the GOP is always right. Didn't I just read that today...

[funkybutt]

15. How dare you!

We got what we voted for???


New Orleans voted 78% for Kerry. Our governor is a Democrat!



I lost everything I own and you tell me I got what I voted for?

[garthranzz]

19. Bush played politics with Louisiana

"informed sources" confirm that the response to Ms. Gov's and La Gov was different and on party lines.

Very right wing Republican Sen. Vitter and very right wing Republican Rep. Jindal begged Shrub for funding for wetlands restoration, which the Feds destroyed.

CoE underfunding led to incompetent construction.

1/3 of the country's economy comes through here - but, as pointed out, NO oil revenue comes back.

Final evaluation: Bush was criminally negligent and politically motivated, as usual; Blanco was outmaneuvered and not aggressive enough; Nagin was in over his head.

[LonelyLRLiberal]

28. I have to agree with funkybutt on this.

No one, Democrat or Republican, would wish for this disaster. I am originally from Mobile, so the Gulf Coast is my home. It is simply unbelievable to me that the federal government is just basically ignoring the total destruction on the coast.

How can people shut their eyes to the suffering of fellow Americans and go out and have their usual gift-buying, party-going holidays?

[Bridget Burke]

34. Texas is a Red State as well.

Hurricane Rita hit East Texas pretty hard. Of course, the devastation in New Orleans is far worse.

Even our ridiculous Governer Perry complained about FEMA's incompetence in our state. Do you think that our fellow Texans still freezing under blue tarps deserve it because the State went Red in 2004?

[snowbear]

61. Well.. except there is no "as well" when it comes to Louisiana..

:shrug: Like Funkybutt said, ananda was wrong to say Louisiana was red.

I hope someday your state becomes blue again Bridget! :hug:

*sigh* Sure seems they'd be so fed up with the likes of Termite Tommy and his band of criminal thugs, that even places like Fort Worth would want to follow Austin's lead!

Welp.. maybe someday?

In the meantime.. I hope ananda drops back in and clarifies their comment to our sweet Funkybutt!

[Swamp Rat]

36. Boooo!!!!

:argh:

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. You are telling me that the State Government

should have done the work on the levies?

By the way, that levee system ultimately benefits states upsream... and it is OF NATIONAL IMPORTANCE.

Sorry, don't buy this passing of the buck

Oh and EVERY BILL that would fund the levee system was systematically defunded by the Feds... every one, and the citizens were screaming... the lcoal paper even bothered writing stories as early as 2001... and National Geographic served the Casandra role at the national level, as well as National Geographic. Don't worry, after the bird flu pandemic, assuming you surfive, you will also make excuses for the Feds, I am sure.

[rman]

5. Fed. govt. "cut funding for New Orleans flood control by 44%"

that's how New Orleans and Louisiana Residents and Politicians allowed "themselves" to remain so vulnerable. Looks to me as though federal govt left NO vulnerable.

Many people are not allowed to return even though their homes received no or little damage. 80% not returned so far, all poor. The 20% that was allowed to return is white and wealthy.
That is not a result of Katrina but a result of how federal government has mismanaged and still is mismanaging it.

So no, New Orleans and Louisiana Residents and Politicians are NOT ultimately responsible for this disaster? Certainly not more the the federal government - it's not that they don't have the money, it's that they want to spend it on something else (war, corporations). Only to blame it on the victims when things go wrong.

[funkybutt]

7. You're right, except

the part about all those who have returned being white.

I live here and many of my black neighbors have returned. Based on what I see, the population is about 55% white with the remaining being black and hispanic people.

On Edit: Before Katrina New Orleans was 78-80% black

[rman]

8. So many blacks are being excluded from returning,

while they are being treated like shit in what are in effect concentration camps. Sure not "all" of them, but that's hardly the point. Point is that most of the misery caused by Katrina not the fault of NO residents but the fault of the federal government.


see

Democracy Now
Friday, December 9th, 2005
New Orleans Evacuees and Activists Testify at Explosive House Hearing on the Role of Race and Class in Government's Response to Hurricane Katrina
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/12/09/1443240

[bettyellen]

10. they make it next to impossible for them, leave corpses for them to find..

and then say they don't want to come back.


Toni Jackson
Fema Victim

[BeFree]

6. The root of the problem

...is that man thought he could change the course of nature, and too many believed that man could.

You could not have paid me to live in that sub sea surface bowl. I understand how people were made to feel safe living under sea level, but I never did trust that man could control nature.

I have a feeling there are many more like me, now. They will never believe man can beat nature over the long term.

My heart bleeds for the victims, and I will not blame them for what happened.

[saracat]

17. So the Netherlands is out of the question for you? Just asking.

[BeFree]

21. Yep, No question

But if I found myself there, I'd damn sure keep a big boat handy.

Do you think man can keep out the sea if nature conspires to raise it tremendously?

[LonelyLRLiberal]

26. You'd have to get in your big boat way ahead of time.

If you didn't notice, there are a bunch of big boats that landed right on top of buildings when they were caught in the hurricane.

[rman]

37. Man can't keep out the sea if government conspires to cut funding.

I mean, it's not like funding has nothing to do with it, is it?

44% is a pretty tremendous lowering of the budget.

[Joanne98]

13. Did you watch the hearing on c-span? It sounded like to me

that SOMEBODY doesn't want the citizens returning. I smell a casino deal in the background some where.

[bettyellen]

16. you are supporting the ruinous policies by making excuses for them....

as if they would have done the right thing- if only NO had asked.
That's a load of crap, and the same exact reasoning used to blame them after disaster struck.
"Allowed themselves" to be vulnerable. I heard that on Faux too often to even wonder where that load of bull came from.

[Jacobin]

23. Corps of Engineers deals with the levees

its a FEDERAL INSTITUTION

[rfkrfk]

24. the levees are owned by the 'Orleans Levee Board'

,a state agency.

N.O. would be better off without federal involvement of any kind.

[LonelyLRLiberal]

27. I assume you mean except for money. eom

[rfkrfk]

30. there should be preconditions for federal money

the Levee board should get out of the casino business,
amougst other reforms I think it should make.
The relationship between the Levee Board,
and the Corps of Engineers, should be clearly stated by the Board...
before any federal involvement or federal money.

here is some background info,
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200509\NAT20050907a.html
the source is kinda dubious, so take it for what it is worth


keep in mind that the CoE builds levees, just not THOSE levees.
It is also confusing, that the CoE has a district office in New Orleans.
I don't know, one way or the other, if the CoE was consulted on the
part of the levees that failed, but they don't look like
typical CoE designs.

IMO, taking federal money, simply allows state people another excuse.

The BS talk about Cat 3 and Cat 5 needs to stop, but I'll leave
that for another time.

[Swamp Rat]

35. Pfft! n/t

[losdiablosgato]

38. I am tire do LA politicos screaming for more money

The state and the city need to pony up a good bit of cash before I am willing to spend much more there. They need to pay their share.

[funkybutt]

41. We're so sorry that people like yourself are "TIRED"

If Louisiana were allowed to hold on to revenue from OUR resources we could fix our levees ourselves. But make no mistake losdiablosgato, we DO PAY OUR SHARE.

I find it offensive that you you are suggesting that "everyone" ELSE is doing our work for us. Louisiana provides around 30% of the oil for the rest of the country and gets almost NOTHING for it. Other states LIKE TEXAS get 100% of their oil revenues, Alaska and other states get 50%. If we were able to use the revenue from OUR resources, we could take care of our OWN levee system and restore the wetlands. Then YOU wouldn't have to do OUR work for us.

The people here are suffering and have been for over 3 months now, myself included. The fact that people here are "growing tired" of hearing about it INFURIATES ME. You wanna know who is growing TIRED?? WE ARE! New Orleanians who are getting NO HELP and NO ANSWERS. If you're one of those people, get a flight down here and I'll show you around. Come swim in our sorrow for a few days and then tell US how tired YOU are.

Are you growing tired of Tookie, growing tired of "Merry Christmas" debates...give me a fucking break!

[losdiablosgato]

42. You reep what you sew.

We do nto have the money to rebuild a city under water. It is time to let Neo Atlantis return to the swamp. I do not think it is wise to even try to rebuild the city.

[funkybutt]

43. It's not your call but you're entitled to your opinion

Good thing Rita didn't make a direct hit on Houston. I had family stuck in the airport there and from what I saw, the evacuation plan was completely dysfunctional. Nobody could get out. At least in NOLA, we got around 95% of our citizens out. It's only a matter of time before y'all get hit with a big one and your sad contraflow system (which was only instituted in direct response to Katrina) wouldn't even begin to get the citizens out.

I'd like to see how y'all could recover if they took away 98% of your oil revenue.

You see, you're missing my point. Let Louisiana have OUR revenue (or at least some of it) to make our own decision. Lets shut down the port of New Orleans and see how fast the rest of the country grows "tired" of missing what it provides; or how long it will take them to tire of $8.00 a gallon for gas.

[BOSSHOG]

44. What do we have money for?

Schools in the South of Iraq? Bridges to nowhere in Alaska? And please, pray tell, if we were to abandon New Orleans, what would become of the commerce traffic which depends on the Mississippi River? Do we also stop producing oil products and do away with that industries support network? Did we have the federal money to rebuild Anchorage in the 60's on an earthquake faultine after the city was destroyed by an earthquake? Yes! Was Galveston rebuilt after a hurricane? Is San Francisco up and running after earthquakes? And why did New York get grants while feds are dangling loans to New Orleans? Is it wise for people to live where snowblizzards kill? Where tornadoes destroy property and lives with little notice? Why should people live in arid climates where crops cannot be grown? Funding the restoration of New Orleans is the wisest investment this country could make; unless of course you'd rather divert funding to open up wireless internet chat rooms in Mosul.

[losdiablosgato]

47. We definitely do not have money for all of this

New Oleans is just to far gone to fix. Maybe we can save some of the ares that did not flood but a lot are gone and by the time you rebuild them most of the people will already have live elsewhere. I know some of the NO refugees and none I know want to go back no matter how much you rebuild. They have higher wages, better schools,and a lower cost of living in the Houston area.

[BOSSHOG]

48. Do you have a lobbyist in your pocket?

Who is this "we" you refer to? Too far gone to fix? Based on what? Your personal visit(s) to New Orleans since the Hurricane? Good for those who have found lives elsewhere and best of luck to them. Their relocation in Houston is no reason to abandon New Orleans. Please share with us your thoughts about the benefits of closing the port of New Orleans. Should we just put a huge Do Not Enter Sign at the mouth of the Mississippi River? The folks a thousand miles upstream would not be amused. And how bout the oil and gas production? Haven't heard from you on those issues. Should we just abandon the offshore oil rigs? Let their support network drift into the gulf? New Orleans will do just fine and dandy despite any ancillary roadblocks.

[losdiablosgato]

50. No, I just think we nee dot cut spending deeply

To start correcting the many excesses of the past 5 years.

[BOSSHOG]

53. I appreciate your point of view

but please answer my questions and try to convince me that shutting off the Mississippi River is a cost effective thing to do. Abandon New Orleans is the solution to make up for george bush's mistakes of "the past five years." Rather drastic solution don't you think?

Please share with me your thoughts of doing away with the tax cuts for bush's millionaire buddys as a way to correct excesses.

With or without you New Orleans will rise again and please make yourself a note, don't plan on visiting. I'm sure you would agree that reveling in the wretched excess of taxpayers largesse would be incredibly hypocritical.

[losdiablosgato]

54. Baton Rouge is a better port and Gulf Port is well on its way to

being up and running. We do not need NO.

[BOSSHOG]

55. Are your referring to "Gulfport," MS?

Up and running? Once again this is based on your recent visits to Gulfport? And how, pray tell does one get up the Mississippi River from Gulfport, MS? And once again I must ask who are "we?" And Baton Rouge is a better port for what? Your short answers are cute but lack substance, akin to Paris Hilton! Please, I'm standing by to be convinced that "we" do not need New Orleans, but I need more than your sayso!

[losdiablosgato]

56. They are in better shape the NO and lets also talk about Mobile,

Galveston, Houston. There are plenty of good ports on the gulf that are taking up the slack for these. Beside there is some conjecture whther or not shippers will come back to NO anyway. I ahve a friend who works for a tow boat company and he tells me many are setting up offices in Baton Rouge or Houston and are not gooing to go back to NO. No Is goign to be a ghost town with maybe 1/2 of its former people. Sad but true.

[funkybutt]

58. Sad but true?? - GO AWAY

You don't seem particularly sad about your doomsday premonitions for New Orleans. As a matter of fact, you seem to bask in the destruction and rally in support of its' demise.

None of your responses have had any basis in fact. Hope you're enjoying yourself.

Please troll elsewhere..and btw, use the spell check. It's really hard to take your posts about how much better the education system, ect is there in TX seriously when you can't spell incredibly simple words.

[losdiablosgato]

60. Truth hurts, but it is still the truth.

NO will come back but smaller and a lot different.

[Bridget Burke]

52. And I know some NOLA natives who are going back.

The flooded areas will be rebuilt--& the developers would love it if the former residents just give up. They can pick up land for a song.

Yes, rebuilding NOLA will be expensive. Too bad you'd prefer our tax dollars be spent on killing Iraqis--& Americans.

[rman]

62. It's a lot cheaper then war

Cheaper then a manned mission to Mars.

What do you mean "we do not have money for all of this"?

Of course we have money. The USA is rich. It's just that those few who control by far most of the riches have their priorities backwards - at least they do from the point of view of the rest of us.

[funkybutt]

45. You are responding to a thread entitled

"Here's how you can help New Orleans"

obviously you have no interest in this cause. So stop trolling my thread, Houston.

You talk about "Louisiana Politicos"...yeah..TX should be really proud of it's Politicos. Quite a bit of indictments over there lately.

[GumboYaYa]

46. Tell that to the farmers in the midwest and the factories all

over who would not be in business but for the Port of Orleans. Anyone who thinks New orleans will not or should not be rebuilt simply has no understanding of the amount of commerce that passes through the ports there. The question is not will New Orleans be rebuilt, but how will New Orleans be rebuilt.

Personaly, I prefer to let the people who have spent their lives there make those decisions and keep the feds out. Unfortunately, before anyone does anything, there needs to be a committment from the Federal Government to fix the levees thay let slide into disrepair over the past decardes. And yes, this is a federal gvernment issue. It has always been understood that the Federal Governmet has the power to regulate interstate commerce and what is river traffic if anything but interstate commerce.

[IndyOp]

11. Bookmarked - I'll be on the phone Tuesday. (nt)

[ultraist]

12. K&R

For our brothers and sisters of NOLA who endured one of the worst natural disasters in the history of our country. :hug:

:kick:

[Marleyb]

14. This sounds like a coverup-Did the levees breach or were they bombed?

"The Feds messed it up. Catagory 1 storm surge breached our levee system, NOT category 3 protection (which we were told that we had)"

Doesn't this make you stop and think? Perhaps the levees were sufficient and they were breached by other means?

Watching the congressional testimony on Katrina the other day, many witnesses spoke of the levees being bombed. These were not conpiracy theorists, they were there, and they have been talking to many others who were there. They seemed VERY CONFIDENT of their statements, like they had talked to many others who felt the same way. There was no reason for the levees to have been breached at all, it was well after the storm. One witness stated that divers have seen a crater consistent with a bombing. They offered to pay for the investigation if only congress will take the information into account. Many had offered further videotaped witness reports.

Although he did not believe them, Congressman Shays promised he would look into the levees being bombed. I think the people of New Orleans would appreciate it if we pressure congress into coming through on that promise of investigating the real cause of the flooding. The FEMA criminal lack of response is already evidence that something more sinister was going on in New Orleans.

[funkybutt]

40. I don't believe the levees were bombed

I don't doubt that the witnesses heard what sounded like an explosion. Millions of pounds of water breached the levees and the force of that would surely have made a loud sound.

However, I don't really think it helps our case for better protection to be claiming that we were bombed. I've seen no proof that we were. The proof I have seen is that faulty construction, and in my opinion, criminal negligence led to this disaster. The construction that protected us did NOT meet the specifications or guidlines that were required.

Many outsiders don't realize it, but a HUGE area of town that was almost exclusively white upperclass was also devastated. If some unscrupulous group were trying to practice "ethnic clensing" on the african american community, i don't believe this area would have been wiped out. One witness compared this catastrophie to the holocost, and I don't believe that's a fair comparison at all. The death lists I've seen are a mix of white, black, asian, young and old.

The breached areas should and will be excavated to investigate the actual reason for failure. At this point, I'd like to focus our energy on better levee protection instead of sinister conspiracies. There's plenty of criminal fault in the failures without even the mention of a bomb or the unnacceptable federal response.

[mcscajun]

18. Kickin' for the great city of New Orleans!

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

[BrklynLiberal]

20. kick...

[funkybutt]

22. Kick for my city...please write some letters and emails!

[EFerrari]

29. I will, fb, but I wish we could prioritize here a little.

For example, there are two Party committees. one for the House and one for the Senate, that are pushing candidates. We could hotwire them, easily.

And, I hope if folks get a good result, they will post 'em to the thread so we know who is receptive and who needs more feedback.

Come to the Survivors forum. We need your help!

:kick:

[DoYouEverWonder]

25. Kick

for New Orleans.

[Hekate]

31. Important list of contacts. Kicked

:kick:

Hekate

[annabanana]

32. kick. . . . . . . ....n/t

[laylah]

33. Kick!

[funkybutt]

39. Monday Morning kick to the top!

[formernaderite]

49. I'm sure mine is not the popular opinion...

but I really hope they look at the environmental cost of returning people to areas that should rightfully be wet. I have to say, I'd rather see these areas returned to their natural and safer state...which are wetlands than see stupid humans rehabitate. Relocate the low lying areas of the city to higher grounds. It just doesn't make sense to fight "mother nature".

[Bridget Burke]

51. The wetlands are gone--but not because they were developed.

They were washed away. Nobody lives there except fishes. Please read the linked article--it explains a lot.

As we arrive at the 100-day mark since Hurricane Katrina hit, it's time we ended our national state of denial and abandon New Orleans for good.

We should call it quits, not because New Orleans can't be made relatively safe from hurricanes. It can be. And not because to do so is more trouble than it's worth. It's not. Instead, the hammers and brooms and chain saws should all be put away and the city permanently boarded up because the Bush administration has already given New Orleans a quiet kiss of death.

Although he has encouraged city residents to return home and declared "we will do whatever it takes" to save the city, President Bush last month refused the one thing New Orleans simply cannot live without: a restored network of barrier islands and coastal wetlands.

www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/3512880.html

The writer does NOT really want to abandon New Orleans. But he is pointing out that Bush already did. The lost wetlands made New Orleans more vulnerable to storms.

The problem is not with Mother Nature--it is with Uncle Sam. Too bad he's become so stingy--unless he's funding a war.

[Al-CIAda]

57. SAMPLE LETTER

****SAMPLE LETTER*****

Dear Congressman:

I implore you to provide the needed support to secure the safety of the people of New Orleans and South Louisiana by:

1) Restoring the levees.

Authorize the funds needed to restore the levee system immediately to protect against a Category 3 hurricane – before the 2006 hurricane season. If this is not done, the city will languish, and the federal government will be left holding the entire bag. Protection against Category 5 is preferable and should also be studied. Due to the actions of the Army Corps of Engineers initially, we never were given the opportunity to know if Category 3 protection was enough: we never had it!

2) Giving the state a bigger share of its own revenue.

Let Louisiana share in a larger percentage of revenue from the oil and gas production that is done off its shores. Other states (Alaska, Colorado, Montana, Texas, etc.) get much, much more. If Louisiana were able to share in that revenue, the state could fund much of its own protection.

3) Committing to the restoration of the wetlands. There is a plan to restore the vital wetlands that could have protected the city from much of Katrina’s destruction. The work Louisiana has already done is showing results. The ill-informed scientist on "60 Minutes" did not account for the progress that has been achieved, and he didn’t account for any remediation; his theory was based on everybody just sitting back and doing NOTHING. Restoration has to be part of the rebuilding plan. We must act now because we’ve seen how much inaction costs in the long run. If the paltry millions requested in the past had been granted, we would not be facing the billions now required.

4) Providing appropriate tax incentives to encourage businesses and residents to rebuild the city.

Even though the images we’ve seen over and over on television show a decimated city, the core of the city − including the business district, the French Quarter, and many area neighborhoods − are alive and well. The citizens are passionate about its renaissance. All they need is a hand up to go along with faith in their resilience and their own commitment to rebuild and do it right.

Yes, there are risks in a vulnerable area − not unlike the entire state of Florida, the east coast, the state of California. This is not a no-win situation. There are reasonable ways to protect the city. The city can be and should be revived. It just needs your help.

The federal government let the people of New Orleans down in their moment of dark despair, with people on rooftops and dying waiting for help that never came. Don’t let them down again.

New Orleans is a jewel that supports the rest of the nation in myriad ways, from its port to its seafood to its oil and gas. To lose the unique culture that resides there would be a tragic loss. Please support rebuilding New Orleans.

[funkybutt]

59. wonderful! thanks! n/t