New Orleans II ?

Who knew the levees would fail and when? Why wasn't the federal government inspecting the levees? It's all Bush's fault and he's in Paris 'Let them eat cake', not in Iowa filling sandbags.

WHY is the media not making this out to be as bad or worse than New Orleans?

Why aren't the Democrats using it as a wedge as they did New Orleans?

I think there is an answer and I believe the Democrats know why.



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Cedar Rapids flood recedes; Des Moines levee fails

Jun 14, 6:44 PM (ET)

By MICHAEL J. CRUMB and JIM SUHR

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - The dark, filthy water that flooded Iowa's second-largest city finally started to recede Saturday after forcing 24,000 people to flee, but those who remained were urged to cut back on showering and flushing to save the last of their unspoiled drinking water.

A sandbagging siege saved the last of the city's four collection wells from contamination by the record flood. But officials warned that if people didn't cut back the water will run out within three to four days.

"Water is still our primary concern," said Pat Ball, the city's utilities director. "We're still using water at a greater rate than we're producing."

More than 400 city blocks and 3,900 homes were flooded in Cedar Rapids, where early estimates put property damage at $736 million, according fire department spokesman Dave Koch.

[...]

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama toured Quincy and helped fill sandbags Saturday.

"Since I've been involved in public office we've not seen this kind of devastation," Obama said of the Midwest flooding. He vowed to push the federal and state governments to provide needed aid to the stricken areas.

[I guess Barrack forgot about New Orleans in 2005? he was in public office at that time, correct? Oh, a small gaffe, and because it's Obama and he's a democrat, it's ok. When Bush makes any gaffe, it's supporting documentation that he is incompetent. How many gaffe's does it take to make incompetence?

How about New Orleans, where, apparently, $4 billion spent to reinforce levee's isn't working, and it will happen again, BUT we don't hear anyone in New Orleans warning ... they'd just as soon see it happen again and fault Bush, again.]


NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Despite more than $22 million in repairs, a levee that broke with catastrophic effect during Hurricane Katrina is leaking again because of the mushy ground on which New Orleans was built, raising serious questions about the reliability of the city's flood defenses.

Outside engineering experts who have studied the project told The Associated Press that the type of seepage spotted at the 17th Street Canal in the Lakeview neighborhood afflicts other New Orleans levees, too, and could cause some of them to collapse during a storm.

The Army Corps of Engineers has spent about $4 billion so far of the $14 billion set aside by Congress to repair and upgrade the metropolitan area's hundreds of miles of levees by 2011. Some outside experts said the leak could mean that billions more will be needed and that some of the work already completed may need to be redone.








idiots

Fires, Floods, and Idiots

I have no article this time to link, but I was thinking about something on the way home from a drive to the beach earlier today. I live where I live, they live at the beach. I have a smaller mortgage, they have a bigger mortgage. I make less, they make more. The fires come over the hills toward my community, I have a freeway in between and will never face the wrath of fire or floods where I live. yet for the select few who can live in areas prone to 'water damage' and 'fire damage' I am left wondering - why do I have to pay (taxes) to fix your community when it falls down. I understand it is not all paid by the taxpayers of California, in fact, the American taxpayers are often called upon to shoulder some of the burden. The first parts are all insurance or private self-funded, but it's the part that involves my taxes that bug me. If I drive down to that area where I am not allowed to wander and it is no lost colony I am referring to, I can't go there ... someone will stop me. If I walk on the beach the big hissy will come out and call the sheriff or his sister Babs will scream hysterically at the mere footprints upon their sand of me, a mere interloper.

Why then should I care whether all their homes burn down or are washed away by the great flood of XX?

I think the people of a few beach communities need better PR because if I lose interest in paying that means 90% have already lost interest.

I'd rather keep the place around a little longer, at least until the oceans rise and we have an underwater city. I like snorkeling, and Babs can't swim and neither can the big hissy.