Blanco just said

[Cookiely]

"Amazing that every media outlet has done their own testing and she will question ALL of these authorities???? What is wrong with her??"

Can you say "control freak"? Good...I knew you could!

Thank you so much for the insight. I have racked my brain for the reasoning behind some of her behavior and just couldn't get a handle on it, but I think you hit the nail on the head.

[RichG]

Folks I am serious, she just isn't up to the task. I hope some body in LA can find a way to legally remove her from office as she criminally incompetent. Even more people will die from disease and god knows what else.

[Stephanie]

I know you're serious Rich. It's a disgrace how long things took to get done. I know she's not the only one to blame but she certainly didn't take any control over the situation affecting HER CITIZENS of Louisiana.

[Skywatch_NC]

Gov. Haley Barbour has probably done a better job in the wake of Katrina's aftermath there in MS...

Eric

[themusk]

Gov. Haley Barbour has probably done a better job in the wake of Katrina's aftermath there in MS...

Eric

In all fairness, I hear the same kinds of reports coming out of MS as far as aid goes (many people not seeing any aid even a week into the disaster, etc.). The difference appears to be mostly that MS is not under water and more easily accessed.

[oneness]

A certain general needs to get the good Gov. on a helo, put her in a little boat and take her to the death and filth and let her vomit up bile until she admits there may be some health issues in the water and begs to be taken back to her office.

Seems to be a chasm between reality and ego.

[Skywatch_NC]

A certain general needs to get the good Gov. on a helo, put her in a little boat and take her to the death and filth and let her vomit up bile until she admits there may be some health issues in the water and begs to be taken back to her office.

Seems to be a chasm between reality and ego.

If I may ask...what's a helo?

In regards to my earlier ? in this post...I just figured it out: Helicopter...

[crazycajuncane]

I'm afraid if she is re-elected I may seek another state to live in. She needs out!

[NC George]

6 years later from FLOYD in eastern NC... the TAR river is a piece of crap "literily" ... and we didnt have ports with god knows what stored... I wont go fishing in it let alone think of ever eating a fish from it.

I know what choice do they have... but long term effects are going to be catastrophic.

I'll wrong your wrong! I go wakeboarding, waterskiing, tubing, swimming in the Tar River. The water is fine. Looks brown and brakish, but that's because of the local tannic acid than turns the water brown. It's actually a natural cleanser (In the days of wooden ships, Carolina water with Tannic Acid was highly prized because it would stay fresh longer than water from other sources.)

Also - when I first moved to Greenville I joined the local boy scout troop. My first trip was a 50 miles down the Tar from Falkland to Washington. We didn't go swimming, but did go wading. Any part of your body that was underwater developed small sores in the next couple of days. This was 23 years ago. Only fish we caught were eels. My recent boating experience (beginning about 9 years ago) shows no such sores (or any other ill effects other than pain from slamming into the water at 30 mph from 3-5 feet over the water when I screw up a landing) from swimming in the Tar.

I think the flood from Floyd actually did the Tar some good, gave it a giant flush job.

[therealashe]

Does the federal government have the right to remove Blanco from the decision making process? I don't know how she was as a Governor, but it would seem that either she is in shock, and therefore unable to make good sound, needed decisions, or she dislikes Bush/Feds and is putting her ego before the needs of her state.


I'd like to believe that she's simply still in shock and overwhelmed. But it's been a week now, and the time has come for her to either step up or step aside.

[arcticfire]

I think just pumping the slug out into the GOM is just the continued selfishness that is breeding the calls to rebuild. Exactly where does the cost stop ? When do we realize having a city there is a bad idea? After we pump all that crap into the GOM and it starts washing up along the coast ? After another hurricain decimates NOLA again next year ?

I don't understand how they can think it's a great idea to contaminate the entire coast with NOLA toxic soup. Of course who knows , maby their right , maby just shoveling toxic waste into the ocean is a great idea. I mean it's worked so good for us in other areas right ?

[Eye10TX]

Didn't two search dogs die this week after drinking that muck? It was so sad.

I was reviewing the first couple of days' events from my notes the other night and realized that a 50" sewer main had broken very early in the flooding, so that's another added bit of grossness.

That review also reminded me why Wednesday was such a pivotal day in the evac situation. People have been focusing on Tuesday because of the multiple levee breaches happening that day (the first one was the day before), but Wednesday was more vivid to me, because that first "commandeered" school bus pulled in here at the Astrodome that night around 11PM--and we weren't "expecting" any buses until after midnight.

The water had been flooding NOLA, but the "Quoddah" (FQ) was still bone dry. Then came a little water, then came more water, then water was on Canal Street, then water was rising an inch per hour, then there were whitecaps on Canal Street--and that's when word finally came around that the first pump had failed (in a series of pump failures that followed).

I wonder, really, how much flooding might have occurred in CBD areas and maybe the Garden District, if the pumps had continued working--or if they had all been able to run on their own power/generators. It is my understanding that only two had their own power and the rest were hooked to the city electrical grid. (Dumb!) Unfortunately, it was the independent ones that were the first to go, IIRC.

Also, that very first day, when Nagin was crying so much, he said that 20 buildings had collapsed. Do we know what they were -- have we seen them? I only remember seeing one pile of old bricks on Bourbon St., but seem to have forgotten any building collapses and can only picture the damage to the windows in the Hyatt and the roof of the SuperDome. Anybody have a better memory than I do about this, or links to photos?

[dougjp]

I think just pumping the slug out into the GOM is just the continued selfishness that is breeding the calls to rebuild. Exactly where does the cost stop ? When do we realize having a city there is a bad idea? After we pump all that crap into the GOM and it starts washing up along the coast ? After another hurricain decimates NOLA again next year ?

I don't understand how they can think it's a great idea to contaminate the entire coast with NOLA toxic soup. Of course who knows , maby their right , maby just shoveling toxic waste into the ocean is a great idea. I mean it's worked so good for us in other areas right ?

Exactly my thoughts and so I think this is the post of the year.

Reality is being overridden by pride, power, history, denial, never admit defeat etc. I don't believe the marshlands have the ability to clean this big of a problem. And there hasn't been significant rain since the storm. What happens when a tropical wave goes over, even after its dried out? The soil and its runoff. Where is the drinking water going to come from in future.

[Windy]

I think just pumping the slug out into the GOM is just the continued selfishness that is breeding the calls to rebuild. Exactly where does the cost stop ? When do we realize having a city there is a bad idea? After we pump all that crap into the GOM and it starts washing up along the coast ? After another hurricain decimates NOLA again next year ?

I don't understand how they can think it's a great idea to contaminate the entire coast with NOLA toxic soup. Of course who knows , maby their right , maby just shoveling toxic waste into the ocean is a great idea. I mean it's worked so good for us in other areas right ?

So what's your alternative? Leave it there as a lake for all time? You have to do SOMETHING with all that toxic waste. There is way too much to safely dispose of. The only option left is to pump it out into the Gulf. Yes, it sucks, but do you have a better plan?

[southerngale]

Maybe Blanco would listen to the fish. They're jumping out of that "water" onto the debris to avoid the contamination.

[Skywatch_NC]

And Lake Pontchartrain has turned into Lake Poopytrain.

Eric

[jasons2k]

Well I may very well be wrong but I plan on fishing this fall in the marshes south west of the city and I will have not problem eating the fish unless warned otherwise by the authorities. I simply refuse to doubt the ability of our natural wetlands to detoxify the wastes (at least the organic ones) The chemicals are really nothing new down here as we have been a dumping ground for the nation for a very long time. I am sorry about your wetlands up there but you cannot compare the limited space available in the marsh to our marsh. I am not just guessing here as I am a biologist and do have some insight into how our ecosystems work. As I said, there will be terrible short term consequences, I simply refuse to jump on the bandwagon proclaiming long term destruction.
TIm

I have to disagree; if there wasn't a problem then why is the region rightfully nicknamed "cancer alley"??

[artist]

at Eric
it if don't laugh I'm gonna keep on crying! thanks Eric!

[arcticfire]

I think just pumping the slug out into the GOM is just the continued selfishness that is breeding the calls to rebuild. Exactly where does the cost stop ? When do we realize having a city there is a bad idea? After we pump all that crap into the GOM and it starts washing up along the coast ? After another hurricain decimates NOLA again next year ?

I don't understand how they can think it's a great idea to contaminate the entire coast with NOLA toxic soup. Of course who knows , maby their right , maby just shoveling toxic waste into the ocean is a great idea. I mean it's worked so good for us in other areas right ?

So what's your alternative? Leave it there as a lake for all time? You have to do SOMETHING with all that toxic waste. There is way too much to safely dispose of. The only option left is to pump it out into the Gulf. Yes, it sucks, but do you have a better plan?

Here is an idea just off the top of my head, you have a big flowing body of water to use to help dilute the toxins. Run a pipe from the mississippi river and use it to dilute the water they are pumping out. Thats just one option. Regardless the kneejerk reaction of pumping water so toxic you dont' want people to even come in contact with it into a lake is just compounding the problem. So now instead of a polluted puddle held in by levee's , you are gonna have an entire tidal lake polluted slowly leaking the toxins into the ocean.

Idealy people would wise up abandon NOLA. Then there would be many options on what to do with the toxic puddle since you wouldn't be looking to make sure people can move back in a couple months.

[LSU2001]

Perhaps we should have abandoned Anchorage since it is clearly unfit for humans since it was destroyed by an earthqake?

TIm