Saturday, March 27, 2010

Samedi

Dr. Ivor van Heerden to speak at The Katrina Seminar
on the Eve of Hurricane Season

~The Katrina Seminar will feature a number of guest speakers in the class, which will meet from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 17 to 21. Others will include: WLOX-TV news director Dave Vincent, filmmaker Lolis Elie, photojournalist Ted Jackson and Reilly Morse of the Mississippi Center for Justice along with several other experts and municipal leaders.
~Jed Horne, distinguished visiting lecturer in the University of Southern Mississippi College of Arts and Letters, is the former metro editor of The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune, which garnered two Pulitzer Prizes for its coverage of Katrina.
In addition to authoring the critically acclaimed "Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City," he is also an ardent and vocal supporter of Our Big Herollero Dr. Ivor van Heerden.

*The Whistleblower Protection Program

Storm Water Best Management Practices Survey
~Watershed NOLA


Barrier-island loss dealing blow to birds~Nikki Buskey
~Wine Island was rendered one-tenth of its pre-Gustav size by the storm surge. Scientists say the dwindling island is an important habitat for nesting birds and must be preserved.

National Flood-Insurance Program (NFIP) renewed

Aquaculture policy meeting N.O.

State Closes Oyster Harvesting In St. Bernard ~WDSU

Interesting Twist on Katrina Shorthand from The Lens
~The private-practice attorney handling the foreclosure on HUD’s behalf, Roy Lilley, put it more succinctly. “The hurricane got it,” he said. “They never repaired it.”
~Also See~
When a greenway becomes a roller coaster
[And what is up with this Paper of Record No Record?]

Hurricane Katrina: Five Year Anniversary for Ocean Springs

BR tries to sell itself to Google

Students team up for New Orleans Entrepreneur Week

LITE teams up with UL
~Jeff Moore

~Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise is well known for its CAVE, a six-sided, three-dimensional virtual reality projection cube housed inside its signature glass egg.
Now, the center hopes to gain recognition in the academic community for a CAVE of a different sort.Leaders at LITE and UL announced the creation of the Computation And Visualization Enterprise (CAVE) Consortium on Friday.

It's Official: H.Res. 1125 GOP Disdains Public Infrastructure On The Record~Desert Beacon

Earthquake Escapees Attending N.O. School

perch. goes green for art in bloom

Lightly raced Battle Plan scores big win in New Orleans Handicap~Doug Tatum

Super Bowl DVD
~Our New Orleans Saints


NOLA Cajun Salmon Cakes
~Reel Good Recipes


Tonight at Le Chat Noir:
HOW I LEARNED ABOUT SEX
~[sturtle]


Some residents want 'Treme' series out of area~Gwen Filosa

Dave Eggers on writing in a shed, poaching internet access and writing about New Orleans
~Molly Reid


Talking Sex, Money, Politics and Tennessee Williams at Festival
~Karen Dalton-Benenato


Why Place Matters
~Oh Get A Grip!


Crescent City Classic Raises Funds for Nonprofit PreSchool ~NOLAFemmes

New Orleans Road Food Festival
~300-700 blocks of Royal Street. Today
Chefs from Louisiana and around the country serve regional specialties,
11-7 FREE.
The festival's sister event, the Louisiana Oyster Jubilee, takes place in the 300 block of Bourbon Street. More than 20 local restaurants will create the "world's longest oyster po-boy. "
~City Park Big Bass Rodeo, Tennesse Williams Festival also on today's menu for New Orleans

New Orleans Women in Music
~NOWIM presents its Second Annual Showcase at the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park in the French Quarter on Saturday, March 27, from 2-3:30pm.
Our featured artists will be Margie Perez and Roselyn Leonard.
Celebrate International Women in Music month with us!


Crawfest planners list lineup

Live Saturday:
New Orleans’ Hot 8 Brass Band

~There are a number of Louisiana musicians appearing this evening through next Wednesday—Nathan & the Zydeco Cha-Chas are at Glen Echo tonight; trumpeter Christian Scott is at Rams Head on Stage in Annapolis tonight; and the Rebirth Brass Band are at the State Theater next Wednesday.
But the most exciting Bayou State concert may be on Saturday, when New Orleans’ Hot 8 Brass Band comes to the Prince George’s Publick Playhouse in Cheverly, Md.

Here's to Cliff's Crib and Citizen K, our Saturday Night Special
from yer'Ho'So Humble Editilla...

*

Friday, March 26, 2010

Vendredi

Did a White Sheriff and District Attorney Orchestrate a Race- Based Coup in a N. Louisiana Town?~Jordan Flaherty
~
Hat Tweet~Facing South

Mayor Elect Landrieu Supports Ditching Charity Hospital
~Whether or not to build a new teaching hospital within the district is a simmering debate topic, and Landrieu has said he supports a new facility. Brad Ott, an activist in support of restoring the old hospital, noted that lawsuits over the matter, including whether the Nagin administration acted legally in turning over city property for the project, will continue through the next administration. “You should know you are inheriting the decisions of the last government,” Ott said.

Governments, not citizens, better prepared for emergencies, Honore tells Kenner planners
~Mary Sparacello

~"I'll bet all the money in my pocket that Kenner is 10 times better prepared than it was before Hurricane Katrina," Honore said after he reviewed Kenner's 815-page emergency plan. "But I would not bet a dime that the people are better prepared."
Coastal policy, science and the media are co-equal props for a shaky stool ~LaCoastPost
~And, Bahr's Scuttlebutt has it...John M. Broder wrote an article for today’s New York Times on the waning congressional support for a cap-and-trade market system to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. A new approach to limiting CO2 emissions is called “cap and dividend” in which (if I understand the concept) the right to pollute would be auctioned by the government, rather than bought and sold by competing industries under a carbon trading system.
"...licenses to pollute would be auctioned to producers and wholesalers of fossil fuels, with three-quarters of the revenue returned to consumers in monthly checks to cover their higher energy costs."

The effects of this shift are unclear but it would seem to reduce the possibility that cash credit for carbon sequestration may help pay for coastal wetland restoration projects in Louisiana.

Researchers Present Study on How Global Climate Change Affects Violence
~Editilla Rotellas~Uuhm errah...weee jus'guessing now...
One Disaster Myth Scholar can contradict Another?
[Disaster management scholar Joseph Trainor observed that “…people are not victims of disasters, they are survivors…People are adaptive and altruistic, mass rioting and mass looting are just disaster myths for the most part]

Sociology professor to speak on post-Flood N.O. at MTSU
~This event, sponsored by the Middle Tennessee Anthropology Society, is free and open to the public. Carter will deliver an informal talk on the grassroots formation of diverse religious movements in Orleans Parish and their influence in post-disaster urban redevelopment and reform. Case studies of religious communities include a Catholic “peace prayer” group; an Episcopal social justice ministry for victims of violence; an inner city Baptist church leading anti-violence and grief recovery ministries; and practitioners of Haitian Vodou conducting “crime ceremonies” for community healing.

Americana Development Says Katrina Flooded New Orleans
~Bad Americana! No Soup For You!!!

Local wetlands project receives grant~Nikki Buskey
~The state will provide $70,000 to continue a Terrebonne land-building project to keep the shoreline separating Lake Mechant and Raccouri Bay intact and slow the Gulf of Mexico’s march into interior parish wetlands.

$24 million federal grant helps La. 1 upgrades inch forward
~John DeSantis
~The $24.1 million grant, announced Thursday, comes from the U.S. Minerals Management Service through a program that aims to compensate Louisiana for damage to its coastal wetlands and infrastructure caused by oil-and-gas activity.

Sand Resources, Regional Geology, and Coastal Processes of the Chandeleur Islands Coastal System: an Evaluation of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge ~USGS ~Hat Tweet~ A. Freeman

MS Inshore artificial reefs restored to pre-Katrina levels

Corps of Engineers moving ahead with London Avenue work despite concerns from outside engineers~Regional levee authority officials said they want these first designs reviewed by engineers outside the corps before any construction begins.
"I think we all agree that completely cutting off the canal from those sand layers is desirable, and I think it's a good idea for the corps to get somebody on board to get started with the design,"
said engineer Bob Turner, executive director of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East. "But I think the authority and a review team needs to be involved to make sure we're all on the same page with design approach and data," he said. "It's not that I distrust anybody, but it makes for a better product if we can see into the process and have input."
Ray Martin, one of the outside engineers levee commissioners selected to evaluate the reanalyses, confirmed this week that he and other peer reviewers weren't hired to review designs.
"The corps has every right to go forward with a design, but it's my opinion that the engineering needs to be peer reviewed by someone,"
Martin said.
"It doesn't have to be us, but it needs to be someone outside the corps because of all they scrutiny they're under."
~Editilla gnashes and flays, rattles and humz~
OK, here is where the Rubber meets the Room and the Corps begins the Real Push on our Flood Safety.
They have delayed and slide-balled this operation to leverage Option 1 and only Option 1, and now coming on yet another hurricane season we get the Squeeze, 1 of 3 Card Monte.
We discussed this very inevitability in past comments in this very venue, yet here we are caught in The Vice like a roasted nut.
The Exquisite Corps knows this, time is on their side.
The Corps will Fuck Around with This until we have No Options.
Sooo, if we get a really tough Season this year and their already Bad Floodwalls fail, again, will we then be ready to bend over and assume the position on Option 1???? Well? If another Katrina this time actually rolls onto New Orleans we will be flooded again.
Had we been able to score the Independent 8/29 Review being sold by levees.org then we would not be having these circular conversations like punks wondering which bull took them when. We would not be reading here where the Corps is going to Stick It To Us regardless of the Screaming need for independent peer review of their work at every level.
Had we gotten an Independent 8/29 Review then we would know Exactly what is up or down about these Still Bad Flood Walls.
But we have not gotten such a systemic review of the cause.
Why?
Why are we here, watching the Corps go there...
--or where ever they forking want?
Mayor Mitch? Can you handle these Corps Ice Holes???


Texas Proposes $10 Billion ‘Ike Dike’ for Storm-Surge Shield ~Bloomberg~Special H/TnT to Kelly Haggar,
"Suppose Texas succeeds in getting this thing built. Will it export/transfer as much surge into Cameron and Lake Charles as we plan to transfer/export into Pass Christian and Gulfport if we ever succeed in gating (or weiring) the Chef and the Rigolets?"


Hurricane Season Looms, as future Disaster Recovery is Counting on the Census
~Cypress Times


FEMA's levee re-certification could prove costly to river communities~A new regulation placing financial burden of levee certification on the owners has some west-central Illinois river communities having to decide whether to find thousands of dollars or risk becoming classified as flood plains. The latter could end up forcing homeowners to buy high-risk flood insurance.

MoMA: the rising current
~designboom


South Louisiana Passover
~Liprap's Lament - The Line


Charges reduced in phone caper at senator Landrieu's office

Federal prosecutor visits N.O. amid police probe

Feds: We’re Investigating Baton Rouge Police, Too
~A.C. Thompson, Pro Publica


Ray Nagin still has a duty to New Orleans' image~Jarvis DeBerry

Child-Governor Jindal Drowns King Cake Baby in Bath Water
~Former Hindu, Exorcist, and now child-governor of Louisiana Bobby "Brady" Jindal was found this morning, crouched in his bath tub in his Gub'na Suit, with his hands clasped tightly around the tiny helpless neck of a King Cake Baby, muttering drool:
"Die, Whore Child of Bourbon."
Quietly, almost subliminally PBJ mewled his frustration beneath a louder drone mantra: "It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion."
But King Cake Baby Won't Die! It, Louisiana, just stares back at His'Boner with those cute purple and gold plastic eyes, singing to itself, "These poor goddamn fools never learn. Who'dat?"

Lets see who supports a crooked political hack for Jefferson Parish Judge ~slabbed

Vitter grandstands on your mammary vans
~Your Right Hand Thief


War and Peace (Berkeley)
~NOEW
~I guess it's kind of ironic that the team working with a client whose company uses the name "Piece by Peace" should call its Idea Village work space The War Room. Honestly, when Mike slapped the sign on the exterior door no-one batted an eyelid. When it comes to self awareness and a basic cognition of things such as these the Berkeley Haas team is evidently a bit slow. It must have something to do with all of the pot dispensaries that litter the region surrounding the Berkeley campus. Berkeley's got a reputation, you know. I'm just sayin'.

Marathon doubles La. refinery capacity in $3.9B project
~Joy Herdes


City Bark opens Saturday in New Orleans City Park for dogs large and small~Katie Urbaszewski
~The park is for members only and requires a card key to gain entry into the black iron fence that encircles it. Members must agree to several rules: Dogs must be vaccinated, spayed or neutered, and at least 6 months old to enter. Children under 8 aren't allowed, and food is off-limits inside the park.
So far about 250 people have paid the $35 annual fee to join, including George Campbell and Anita Delone, who took a lazy walk around the trail Wednesday as their Pomeranian, Kizzie, sniffed out her new play space. They said they plan to visit the dog park up to four times a week.

BeauSoleil marketing explored
~Marsha Sills
~The 30 months of planning, designing and building the solar-powered home that placed University of Louisiana at Lafayette students on an international stage isn’t over, the project’s faculty director said Thursday. The 800-square-foot home, named BeauSoleil, sits on the campus near the arts building, Fletcher Hall, with a view of Girard Park. Soon, versions of BeauSoleil could be on the market.

Review: Best American Nonrequired Reading 2009

A great book about a great American city

Dave Eggers' Zeitoun signing Octavia Books today!

Odd Words
~Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans


Night of the Iguana Extended

BECA ICAD (International Center for Art + Design)

New Orleans Bread Pudding With A Whiskey Sauce
~Lindaraxa's Garden


My New Orleans green gumbo welcome wagon~Francis Lam

After tough year, gator farmers see ray of hope~Lloyd J. Nelson

Louisiana Crawfish Festival where'yat New Orleans

Hollywood South breaking records with big stars and projects ~WWL

New Orleans in a Moment –Three Odes
~The G. Hunter Chronicles


Sweet Home New Orleans Seminar ~NOCCA

Students participate in Roots of music ~Program tutors middle school students without access to music education

Susan Cowsill Band April 9th at Carrollton Station
~"Covered In Vinyl" Series, feat: Bob Dylan's Hwy 61 Revisited
w/ special guest Bill Kerchin

Superfly During Jazzfest

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Jeudi

Sandy Rosenthal Tweets-Out
attending 2nd Flood Protection
Task Force -soo what's da'news?

~Editilla Crowtellas~Yay! Still, we wait and remain hopeful.
Meanwhile, the Corps has Option 1 stuffed in our City's mouth like a punk shotgun.
~In other News~
Mitch Landrieu's Economic Development Task Force to hold public meeting tonight.


Former Times-Picayune editor to present examination of Katrina
~Jed Horne, distinguished visiting lecturer in the University of Southern Mississippi College of Arts and Letters, will offer
The Katrina Seminar,
a week-long examination of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, during the May 17-21 mini-session.
Horne is the former metro editor of The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune, which garnered two Pulitzer Prizes for its coverage of Katrina.
In addition to authoring the critically acclaimed "Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City," he is also an ardent and vocal supporter of Our Big Herollero:
Dr. Ivor van Heerden.

Hurricane recovery progress as LRA ends ~Mark Schleifstein

Forecasters to give earlier storm warnings ~WWL

Community Planner Job USACE
Vacancy No: SWGY10121181
Department:
Army Corps of Engineers
Salary:
$47,448.00 to $74,628.00 Grade: 9-11
Perm/Temp: Permanent FT/PT: Full-time
Open Date: 3/19/2010 Close Date: 4/2/2010
Job Link:
Apply Online Who may apply: Status Candidates
Major Duties: Serves as the primary Planning Division source of information on social impact assessment required as part of a wide range of water resource studies. The position is at the journeyman level, working under the supervision of higher-graded staff economists. Incumbent applies professional sociological and socioeconomic knowledge and agency guidelines to the evaluation of base conditions for the area under consideration and the impact that may occur by Federal actions. Incumbent identifies social resource areas appropriate for investigation and conducts analyses at a sufficient level of detail. Engages in public outreach activities and participates in public meetings. Studies are performed in support of water resource projects, including flood risk management, ecosystem restoration, storm damage reduction, and navigation.

Corps construction has some reaching for ear plugs

New Orleans' Newest Power Couple Also Plays
"All’s Fair in Love and Politics"

~It’s not surprising that New Orleans’ most prominent new power couple didn’t agree on the new health-care legislation during and after speaking Tuesday at Baton Rouge Community College. Opposing Democratic and Republican strategists James Carville and Mary Matalin, who married in 1993, discussed their opposing political views, but largely agreed on the topics of feminism and opportunities in Louisiana at BRCC’s “All’s Fair in Love and Politics” event during Women’s History Month.
~Editilla Hotellas~Oh Holy Mother of Zaphod Beelzebub,
Matalin
was the Rovian Lush Strategist speechwrither for Dick Chaney in the Sell'Up to the Iraq War, after serving as the deputy campaign manager for political operations on George Bush's reelection campaign, overseeing operations in all 50 states, and defending the Daddy Bush's Failed One'n'Done administration.
Notably, she served in this role while mating Father of Zaphod James Carville, who was chief strategist for the Clinton campaign that beat the pants off Daddy Bush. Carville is perhaps best known for leading Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign and coining the theme, It’s the economy, stupid.” Which is where Editilla co-opted the phrase to "IT'S THE LEVEES STUPID" to monkey-hurl at Evil Katrina Shorthand Jivers.
But really, is this New Posse of Bleuveau Riche Nola Progressives Radically Chic or What?
Zaphod Beelzebub:
Who are we waiting for again?
Zaphod: No, I'm serious.
Zaphod: I can't do this without my third arm!

Ray Nagin Sucks Felony Cock
~Apparently The Zombie agrees!

DuBos Praises Nagin??? Riiight!
~David Winkler-Schmit


Louisiana Generating LLC cancels plans for coal plant expansion in New Roads
~Rebecca Mowbray


State could lose seat in Congress ~Steven Ward

Like Zulu, nightclub developer may get loan from city
~Ariella Cohen, The Lens


Orleans Parish School Board faces $11 million shortfall
~Cindy Chang


Mississippi: norovirus outbreak prompts Louisiana oyster recall

Crawfish prices steep

Despite high prices for crawfish in Louisiana, Crawfish Festival goes on this weekend
~Molly Reid


Fishing Report for March 25

Remembering: Grand Dames and Why I Love the Writers’ League of Texas~Suzy Spencer

America in 2050 -- Where and How We'll Live~Joel Kotkin
~Hat T'n'T~Planetizen

New Orleans Ramblin’s
~The Thomas Society


New Orleans Remains A Volunteer Hub For College Students Five Years After Flood

Alternative spring break will be on da'bayou~Alex Fournet

~Does Editilla ever need a reason to hang this song here?

*Naaah...We Flat Love da'Wiley Lama of Texas!

Three culinary festivals sure to satisfy every taste bud in summer 2010

27th annual Hattiesburg Hubfest lures locals downtown

Laura Chilton's Memorial Letter

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Mercredi

US Troops in Mexico?!?~NPR
~"It is only being done at the request of and with the consultation and cooperation (of) the Mexicans.
This is not the United States unilaterally going in."~Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano
~Editilla Bellas~Where have we heard That One Before?

Mid week rundown
~American Zombie


LRA prepares to dissolve
~Jennifer Hale
Hurricane Katrina response evaluated by philanthropists
~Editilla's Dictshinola!~ Philanthropod: Prehistoric carrion bird which feeds upon grass roots, is often supplemented by family money and is known to use vast Social Nets to scavenge the bottoms of the Bourgeois Naivete. Virulent, Non-Extinctable.

Nobody told Editilla that Crazy Freak'Ass Screamin'Beotches were coming to New Orleans!
Vitter Joins Bipartisan Letter Calling for Transparency in Flood Map Process

Borrow-pit permit rejected by City Planning Commission
~Brentin Mock, The Lens


Corps releases feedback report on water manual. Updated manual is expected to be completed in three years.

More from the mouth of the Disaster Scholars' Myth Beast
~The Inter-American Development Bank estimates that the Haitian earthquake dealt about $14 billion in damage. As large as that figure is, it's relatively small compared with the costliest disaster of the past decade: Hurricane Katrina, which caused an estimated $125 billion in damage.
Corps/Optimal Process Partners hosting "public meeting" on canals and pumps Today
~Editilla Ho'tellas~Optimal Process Partners PR
Is it because of the work of these PR Spin'filtraitors that we have heard NOTHING else on this vital story from nearly a year ago?
This OSC Report was delivered to the President last June '09.
Can anyone tell us what has been done about these Bad Pumps?

Fix the Pumps
~Editilla jus'gotta Ax~ Really, New Orleans, do you want to spend $10,000,000 per year for the next 10 years just on the Maintenance for the Corps Plan?

Corps of Engineers awards $5.3 million floodgate contract in St. Bernard Parish~Chris Kirkham

LCPRA Chair: Funding Looks Promising~Tri Parish Times

Louisiana coast work shows progress, says governor ~WWL

Structure generates great fishing, but few wetlands benefits~Katherine Schmidt

Gulf Coast rebuilding office closing this month~Bruce Alpert

The Cultural and Political Economy of Recovery:
Social Learning in a Post- Disaster Environment
by Emily Chamlee-Wright


Rewilding: A Model for Sustainable Conservation
~The Dirt


NO Ladder Real Estate Listing
Corps of Engineers Living Quarters 125-Ton Quarter- boat Barge - 92' x 24' $109,000

Falling water levels threaten Delta~Picayune Item

The latest from Dr. Jeff Masters
~Editilla Rotellas da'Motella~ We're just priming the pump here, getting everyone ready for The Season, letting everyone know where everything is before we need it.

High Flows and Flood History on the Lower Mississippi River: Below Red River Landing, LA (1543-2008) ~NOAA

Ray Nagin: New Orleanians will one day recognize my good work
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

CNN: The ratings show that people are frustrated with you, how does that make you and your colleagues feel?

RN:
We feel it's unfair, but we know the truth and how far we've come. We have this kind of idealism that at some point people are going to understand what we've been doing, it's almost like an underground movement. (Yeeah, dat's da'Ticket!)
We've been working underground
(???) to make sure that this city can fully recover with the hope that at some point people will recognize the good work that we have done.
~Editilla bites the tongue that feed us!~
Can we getta'Witnaaaassss???
Can we help but point out herah, that C. Ray, "Ray'Gunz", "Babyhead", "Chocolate Don", "Idiot Bastard Son of Barbie", "Stupido", "Fuckmook", "Dumbass " Nagin is giving New Meaning to the exodustic euphemism: Underground Railroaded?
~Thanks Youz Right Hand Thief

New Mayor Smell
~Library Chronicles


*
Forked! “Bifurcation for Dummies” – a Rigsby qui tam Update (part 1) ~slabbed

Census, Google Team Up For New Orleans Mail-Back Results

Folgers' Kansas City plant closing, operations moving to New Orleans

St. John parish planting seeds for farmer's markets

Crowd supports breakup
~Richard Burgess

~The first in a series of six town-hall meetings on the pros and cons of Lafayette Consolidated Government drew a crowd that demanded a public vote on whether to return to separate city and parish governments.


Over Half of News Stories Spin

Dirt on shoes: cycles for women are centuries old~Leanne Italie

French in a Flash: Dijon Chicken ~Serious Eats

Want to Use My Suit?
Then Throw Me Something
~Campbell Robertson


John Patrick Shanley Opens Tennessee Williams Festival
~Ken Korman, Gambit


New Orleans Area Sci-Fi/Fantasy Authors needed~Library Thing

HBO's 'Treme' pays tribute to fine New Orleans food
~Brett Anderson


Musicians Bringing Musicians Home VI, this Friday 3/26
~Art by Mags


Jus'soz Ya'knowz...Scenes from the Treme Sidewalk Steppers and VIP Ladies and Kids Parades

~Big Thanks Youz, Red Cotton

Dominican music icon heads to New Orleans Jazz Fest

2010 New Orleans Jazz Fest cubes released, plan your festival days now ~WWOZ

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Mardi

Marva Wright dead at 62
Lessons for and from rebuilding
~ Sarah Wilensky

~New Orleans and Haiti weren’t really the same story.
In Haiti, the destruction was due to a natural disaster.
In New Orleans, while we still refer to the event as Hurricane Katrina, it was really the failure of the Corps of Engineers that caused massive flooding, tremendous destruction of property and loss of human life.

~Editilla Cherry'O'las!~
Big Cherry'Os and Thanks Youz
to Sarah Wilensky for employing the opposite of Evil Katrina Shorthand, to wit:
the Truth! It's Still The Levees Silly!
Disaster Myth My Ass!

Duly Noted~The New Glitterati
~Editilla Crowtellas!~Well thanks youz very much!

NOLA Recycles 2010 will play a grassroots part in holding Mayor Landrieu to his green campaign promises ~NewOrleans.com

Minnesota Bridge Collapse contractor settles suit for $5M
~A court fight over the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge between the state and its chief consultant was settled Friday, averting a trial that could have shed light on who was to blame for the disaster that killed 13 people and injured 145.
"Saying Katrina wrought devastation to New Orleans is like saying traffic wrought devastation to the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis."
~Sandy Rosenthal, founder Levees.org

Delegation from south Louisiana in Washington to seek flood protection help~Bob Warren

NOAA Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act Project Monitoring

LA. CPRA Awards Ducks Unlimited $1.78 Million For Restoration Project

Over 2,000 Acres of Louisiana Longleaf Pine Woods Saved by Ecosystem Investment Partners and The Nature Conservancy

Everyday is World Water Day fo'da People on your Ho'So Humble Ladder
*Here's one fo'da Commandette...

*Special thanks to Cheryl, Memphis Feme Fatale

EPA To Issue Stricter Drinking Water Standards

10-year, $1.3 billion solution for Fargo floods?~Corps of Engineers has plan, but N.D. and Minn. bicker over funding

Some Companies Thrive As Red, Other Rivers Flood

Precision Drilling Trust to Present at the 38th Annual Howard Weil Energy Conference in New Orleans

Entergy wants to keep nuclear option in Louisiana

Hydrokinetic proposal for Mississippi river~Lin Edwards
~Everyone is looking for alternative forms of energy, and one company proposes to generate electricity from the flow of the river Mississippi in the US, without using dams to control the water flow.

The Looming Water Disaster That Could Destroy California + Enrich Billionaire Farmers
~Yasha Levine


Flood Threat: Aging system could face decertification, requiring many AZ homeowners to purchase extra insurance
~Questions about the ability of the Albuquerque metro area's aging river levees to hold back a worst-case Rio Grande flood could mean insurance premium increases ranging from $500 and $2,000 annually for thousands of property owners.

Real Estate Developer named to first permanent position on Board of new teaching hospital

Healthcare wins!~The Lens
~H/TnT~Library Chronicles

Louisiana and attorneys general from 12 other states sue over health care overhaul
~The lawsuit was filed seven minutes after President Barack Obama signed the overhaul bill Tuesday. It names the U.S. departments of Health and Human Services, Treasury and Labor.

Old mother Hubbard in a new dress? Parishes questioning ties of RAMJ Construction ~slabbed

Phil Johnson's editorials document 37 years of local history~Dominic Massa, WWL

What's fair compensation for 18 years on Death Row?

Justices to Weigh Law on Gaining Citizenship via Parents
~Adam Liptak


New Orleans entrepreneurs merge commercial and social-welfare interests

Bayou St. John --- Photos of a New Orleans Neighborhood

Errol Laborde: Magical Times Versus Lent in New Orleans

Uptown in New Orleans ~L'Archivista

Tomb with a View
~Chris Rose


“Take care when you handle Cliche’ lest you draw offense of Metaphor, as neither will honor what they seem in life nor what you would wish of them in death.”
…said Down the Gravedigger to his apprentice.

“I could not agree more.” mutters Bourgeois to himself not alone.
His words fall like pennies on a damp vault floor, amidst the scattered sounds of fat raindrops as they begin to hit the tiny streets and little stone buildings of this city of the dead.
Above, shit-brown clouds fly over the rooftops of the Quarters like the surface of a dirt road as seen from three inches away at thirty mph. Yet he feels neither breeze nor disparate sigh from the rain falling now straight and steady down into the cemetery.


He had already seen Metaphor kill here, just minutes ago, before the weather changed. Now he needs to get away, get out of this labyrinth, get normal again somewhere hidden, before the Guard makes another sweep through the hood with their humvees and big hard spotlights. Thank Marie Leveau their helicopters are grounded for the coming storm. Cliche’ cares not for uniformed authority, as their spotlights and loud machines and the misunderstanding of control in their barked orders make her nervous. Whenever Cliche’ gets nervous Metaphor comes into play and the scene changes quickly, irrevocably.
Having seen enough of
that for one night, Bourgeois just wants find someplace more comfortable to settle down before the storm opens up properly and real darkness falls over the city again like a rat bag. Plus it just would do no good--at all--to be seen right now with the bloody twins, especially out after the city-wide 2am curfew--and especially after they both ripped apart and consumed four confident, well armed heroine dealers and their murdered Master Down.
Five dead humans you won't find a trace of in the social register of this or any other necropolis.

Bourgeois Melonsong is their Master now, for better or worse, which he already knew as the deal with Cliche' and Metaphor.

But where is the fucking gate out of this filthy old maze?
He came in through it, the only entrance, but still for the life of him he can’t even find the wall around the place in this rain.
If he could make it to a wall then he could work his way around through the Stations, always keeping to the right, along the Society vaults until he reached the front gate.

Cliche’ and Metaphor are no help, of course. They don't care, having grown up in these tiny towns across the city.
They lead Bourgeois along, as if he were a writer with all the time in the world to study the names on each address, ponder how they came to be here and when. Therein lies the tombstone rub... for he is a writer, and he indeed knows something of the stories behind the citizens resting in these beds of love and grief.
And he has no time left for any more graveyard dog tricks.
The Story of Down by Editilla O'rilla d'Aphasia

How I Learned About Sex


He’brews Debut in New Orleans
~Will Coviello


Cajun Black Eyed Pea Gumbo

Monday, March 22, 2010

Lundi

Part two on ‘Hybrid’ levees:
why the corps shouldn’t get high on exotic (levee) grass. ~LaCoastPost

~Editor’s note: My first foray on a Louisiana levee happened on a rainy Sunday afternoon in the mid seventies along the river south of LSU. My tour guides were open-minded friends from Shreveport and Los Angeles in pursuit of ’magic mushrooms.’
My interest was purely ecological, of course, and that’s when I first gained an interest in the potential expansion of the biodiversity of levee landscape. ~Len Bahr, Phd


Historic, Possibly Deadly Flooding Predicted Swath of U.S
~More than a third of the U.S. faces a high risk of flooding this spring, and Midwesterners may get the brunt of it, according to government forecasters.~Please also see: NOAA: Imminent Flood Threat in Midwest, South and East Also at Risk

The Secret of Sea Level Rise:
It Will Vary Greatly by Region
~Michael D. Lemonick

~As the world warms, sea levels could easily rise three to six feet this century. But increases will vary widely by region, with prevailing winds, powerful ocean currents, and even the gravitational pull of the polar ice sheets determining whether some coastal areas will be inundated while others stay dry.
And in some coastal areas — most notably along the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana — the land is falling as well: Thanks to massive oil and gas extraction, the continental shelf is collapsing like a deflated balloon. “The rate of subsidence measured at Grand Isle, Louisiana,” says Rui Ponte, of the private consulting firm Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc, “is almost 10 millimeters per year, compared with two or three in other areas.” That’s especially problematic for a city like New Orleans, which already lies partly below sea level.

Now It’s The Woman’s Turn ~NOLAFemmes

Louisiana AG: No decision on opposing health care overhaul

Oh Snap!
Is Bobby Pissed???

~Show us your War Face, Bobby!

N.O. Entrepreneur Week highlights local startup success

HUD: La. hurricane victims misuse elevation money


‘I will own my education.
I will own my school’
~Dr. Andre Perry


Louisiana courts ranked near bottom in business survey
~R.T. Scott
~Gary Perilloux

Law would help La. property owners claim credit

Transocean Has 25% of Fleet Standing By in Shipyards

Good Night Beautiful Boy
~Signs of Life in new Orleans


BIO IPCC Spring Conference
~The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) will be holding its Intellectual Property Counsels Committee (IPCC) Spring Conference & Meeting on April 19-21, 2010.

La. network involved in SCinet computer set-up?

*
Farms in the sky:
a New York City roundup
~Suyeon Kim
~H/TnT~Planetizen

Hollygrove Market and Farm, A NOLA Vegetarian’s Best Friend
~Nola Eats


Gourmet Eats From A Truck

New Orleans chefs make list of James Beard food awards

A Cheese You Should Be Eating: Beaufort~Serious Eats

Interview: Fiona Robyn ~NOLAFemmes

New Orleans stories
~Against the Wind


Adding a touch of poetry and music to March’s madness
~Geraldine Wyckoff


The postcard of New Orleans that America didn't get.
~OhNoTheyDidn't


New (Susan) Orleans~Deitch

Monday Music Special~slabbed

Wicked, Tennessee Williams, Pirates and 'Wednesdays at the Square' highlight the week ahead