National Geographic article about New Orleans

There IS denial. If people lived in constant fear of something bad happening, that's unreasonable.
There IS faith in the levees. see above.
There IS a 100-proof love of home, of a strength that exists in EVERY community to which people feel deep roots.


i want as much nationwide media as possible making the point that the issue of the levees is as much or MORE an issue of the Corps' rampant mismanagement than anything else. Outsiders need to stop laying blame solely on the stereotype of the crooked Louisianan.

The levee districts are gone now, but even if they had practiced the oversight that Head and Midura now appear to be practicing ... the funding for the Corps comes from the American taxpayer, and the accountability is to the American taxpayer.

The misconception that New Orleans got zillions of federal dollars in infrastructure cash after Katrina, and it is being wasted SOLELY by New Orleanians, is untrue and needs to be done away with. Congress sends the Corps money for this project, and there they were, trying to do the same thing now that ruined the project before.

i am so encouraged by the actions of Fielkow, Head, Midura, and other newcomers. i do not have rose-colored glasses on, such that i think there's not still plenty of graft happening.

i just feel like where graft happens, the Feds figure no one will ask many questions because, as Steve Inskeep condescendingly SNEERED last week when speaking to the new tax assessor, "hey, it's New Orleans." You know, like those New Orleanians are all greasy thieves.

There SHOULD be more articles which lay out in relative detail WHERE things went wrong. IMO, it was NOT ethical to sell flood-prone land to eager buyers in the earlier part of the century, and encourage them to build and/or move there ... but homes are there now, and if an area like Broadmoor can be reasonably served by an adequately designed and maintained pumping station, then it should be.