A Banner Week

Perhaps it's the mid summer blues or something, but seems like the scuzzbuckets are crawling out of the woodwork.
Found over at
The Chicory, it appears that some corn fed sportswriter is voicing his opinion about the rebuilding of New Orleans and his overall opinion of its denizens.

Mr. Sportswriter Bryce Lambley

Varg's retorts are great, but it's Mr. Lambley's comments like this that make me a tad pissed off

But let's put things into perspective. If you or I are crazy enough to build much more than a ramshackle cabin on a Platte River island or shore, and a flood sweeps it away, folks here won't have much sympathy for our decision to build there in the first place. We take the risks of developing such land knowingly.


All I can say is that I'm glad I live here in Southeast Louisiana where people have heart. I can't imagine living in a place where it's so cold it makes one heartless.

I hope one day a deer gets you, Mr. Sportswriter.

PERPETUAL SCUZZBUCKETS

the hits just keep on coming…..
From ABC news, another example of FEMA's total insanity, ice that was meant for the aftermath of Katrina is now going to be melted because it can't be used:

After a slow start, FEMA trucked in more than 200 million pounds -- way too much, as it turned out.
Stuck with the unused ice, FEMA put it back on trucks and sent it to storage centers all over the country -- even to far away Portland, Maine -- and paid storage costs, hoping to use it in a future disaster.
Now, two years later, FEMA has decided it may be contaminated, and will finally dump it.
We're talking big ice here -- 85 million pounds. How many gin and tonics could you ice with that? And how many people could you cool off who are pretty steamed about the waste?
On Sunday in New Orleans, Lauren Michele Fields told ABC News, "The ice story, it's infuriating but completely believable and obvious that it happened."

It's been $12.5 million to store this ice for two years, said Beth Normile, "and I think people will be outraged and frustrated."


I experienced the aftermath of Katrina in Slidell, Louisiana. We did not see ice for almost a week. It took that
long to get it shipped to the local Wal-Mart, where they were giving it away. For weeks ice was being rationed out to people. It was
a precious commodity. To see this as yet another example of the gross negligence of the federal agency is beyond disgusting.

On another front, the former head of FEMA, James Lee Witt found a way to jump into the "screw the victims" bloodbath
by charging the state of Louisiana double the cost for subcontractor services.

from MSNBC dot com
Blanco hired Witt Associates to help Louisiana’s stricken communities work through federal red tape and to help manage storm debris removal. The governor’s move was praised as a necessary step to getting the overwhelmed state on the road to recovery.
But the state’s open-ended no-bid contract with Witt Associates also raised concerns about the financial implications of privatizing disaster relief.
In an October 2005 New York Times article, Witt was clearly sensitive to the notion that he might prosper from the Katrina disaster. “I just don’t want anyone to say that we used this as a way to profit or to try to get new business,” he said. “I just don’t want that.”
And during a taped forum at the National Press Club the following month, Witt said emphatically, “I’m not charging Louisiana anything if I’m not doing something for Louisiana.”
Nevertheless, according to information obtained by NBC News through public records, internal documents and interviews, Witt’s company has made millions of dollars from sizable markups on work performed by its subcontractors

here is a copy of a timesheet
showing markups by Witt's company for services performed by RMI debris monitors
"RMI paid one worker $18 an hour. Records show that RMI then billed Witt Associates about $50 an hour. Witt Associates subsequently billed the state $100 for that same hour of work.
"

Again from MSNBC, Witt's organization blatantly falsified timesheets

“Every week, four to five times a week, I would write, you know, ‘very slow’ or ‘nothing going on,’ ” he recalls.

Yet, he says, his supervisor told him to report 11.5-hour workdays anyway.
“I was told by the supervisor that we had to do that or they would get somebody else to do it,”

There's much more in the article. I'm too disgusted to go on.

home sweet home

Just got back from a road trip that took us through
click pictures for full-sized versions























Why does my home state insist on putting a freaking turkey
on the welcome sign?






And back again. It was great seeing family, the ocean


and mountains,


but - despite everything - it's good to be home down here in Southeast Louisiana again.

Rebirth

Strong Roots . The Times Picayune's multi-media feature on New Orleans neighborhoods on the rebound from Katrina. Updated to feature Mid City, The Lower 9th Ward, Broadmoor, Gentilly, Lakeview and St. Bernard Parish.

Another layer of flavor

Another ingredient in the make up of the post Katrina population gumbo is becoming evident in supermarkets from Houma to Biloxi.
I've noticed the emergence of a wider variety of "Latino" food available in the stores around the Slidell area. I like the influx of a Latino influence
in the food we love to eat.

From the Sun Herald news, July 8, 2007:
Latin American tastes have spread across the Coast, creating a market for cuisine that's Hot hot hot

The converging realities of a larger Hispanic community and discovery of a new taste by other ethnic groups is causing even the big-name supermarkets such as Winn-Dixie and Wal-Mart to give those groceries more real estate on their shelves.
The Latino food section has gotten wider and wider over the years at the Winn-Dixie at the intersection of Pass and Popp's Ferry roads (in Gulfport, MS).
Nowadays it rivals in length that most assimilated of ethnic foods enjoyed by the American palate - Italian pastas and sauces - which sit in almost equal proportion across the aisle.
We are putting in a lot more product. We're getting stories from our stores that they are selling very well, said Jim Carrado, Winn-Dixie's senior director of merchandising. "It's clearly the No. 1 ethnic food we deal in."
The common tortillas and salsa bottles have been joined by more exotic fare. Sofrito seasoning and mole sauces compete with the popular Mexican soft drink Jarritos for consumers' attention.
The outsized selection dwarfs Asian and Jewish products that also populate the ethnic food aisle, providing more proof demand for Latino foods has pushed to the forefront in South Mississippi.
Area Wal-Marts have been seeing the same trends. Spokeswoman Amy Wyatt-Moore said increasing sales of Hispanic products are being driven mainly by an increased Hispanic population since Hurricane Katrina, though more non-Hispanics are also buying

Media Whore

Media whore to defile my neighborhood
Cindy Sheehan is back in the fight for peace justice and coming to New Orleans next Wednesday July, 11, 2007. On her way from Crawford, Texas to Washington, DC and then to the “Gather in of Hearts Fest” Central Park, NY, NY.
Cindy decided to get back into the fight after The Bush League White House commuted the sentence of I. Skater Libby. Her goal is not to lead the movement.
Rather, to use her name and access to media to help local organization get media attention to hear opinions of the Democratic Machine that used her up and spit her out after the elections last fall.
Contrary to popular thinking she does not have allot [sic] of money. Since the Democrats have walked away from her mission so has most of her support from BIG MONEY.
Rally Lower Ninth Ward Deslonde St @ the location of the Levee Wall breach
Local Schedule For New Orleans: July 11 arrive New Orleans, LA. 2pm-ish Deslonde St in Lower Ninth Ward Levee Wall. Evening dinner and camp fire talks at Bayou Liberty Slidell, LA for partnering Organizations directions provided at the afternoon event.

I hope it rains the whole time she's here.

Scuzzbucket of the Week

Robert Thorson, supposedly a Professor of Geology at the University of Connecticut.

I say "supposedly" because in this article, "Politics Aside, New Orleans is a Lost Cause", published in the Hartford Courant, he states .... I just wish that one of the Democratic contenders had been forthright, calling the Katrina tragedy a natural disaster...My plan has only one point. That we not spend another dime on U.S. properties below sea level - and use that money instead to help sea-level refugees find safer homes elsewhere.


What a maroon.

NOLA bloggers Ashley Morris , Pistolette and geologist Maitri among others have penned responses to this scuzzbucket.

Pistolette wrote No wonder most people in New Orleans want France to buy us back. With compatriots like you, who needs jihadis?

Ashley mused is painfully obvious is that Mr Thorson is evidently not aware that most of the city of New Orleans is above sea level. Far above. Farther than many points in Hartford, Connecticut.

Mr Thorson is suggesting that New Orleans be abandoned for all the wrong reasons. The reasons he should be most ashamed of are bad research and bad science on his part.

Maitri closes her response with
but this is a matter of life and death for New Orleans, not an intellectual plaything or the next topic for a journal paper. That America and the rest of the world understand what went on here before, during and after Katrina and the Flood is crucial. Heaven forbid that something similar should occur in Bridgeport, New Haven or Niantic, or even Hartford for that matter. In such a circumstance, it is critical that local residents and onlookers appreciate the difference between natural and unnatural, unavoidable and unjust. It is vitally important that educators and students, especially of geology, learn from this horror and use the proper information and tools to make sure it never happens again. This would be the best tribute to the 1300 New Orleanians who lost their lives in a most unnatural way.


Varg over at The Chicory considers this "professor" and enemy of the state, along with Rep. Dennis Hastert
(Enemy to the Peoples and Cultures of New Orleans and South Louisiana) and Slate's Jack Shafer who wrote Don't Refloat, the case against rebuilding the sunken city of New Orleans back in September 2005.

The Only Flag That Matters

Wet Bank Guide: The Only Flag That Matters

Our Elected Officials

From Women of the Storm website
Here is a list of members of Congress who have visited the hurricane-affected parts of Louisiana. Please thank Members who are on this list – and encourage Members who are not on this list to visit, meet the people and see the devastation for themselves.
57 Senators

Sen. Ted Stevens - Alaska
Sen. Lisa Murkowski - Alaska
Sen. Richard Shelby - Alabama
Sen. Blanche Lincoln - Arkansas
Sen. Mark Pryor - Arkansas
Sen. John McCain - Arizona
Sen. Chris Dodd - Conneticut
Sen. Joe Lieberman - Conneticut
Sen. Joseph Biden - Delaware
Sen. Thomas Carper - Delaware
Sen. Bill Nelson - Florida
Sen. Daniel Akaka - Hawaii
Sen. Larry Craig - Idaho
Sen. Richard Durbin - Illinois
Sen. Barak Obama - Illinois
Sen. Evan Bayh - Indiana
Sen. Sam Brownback - Kansas
Sen. Mitch McConnell - Kentucky
Sen. David Vitter - Louisiana
Sen. Mary Landrieu - Louisiana
Sen. John Kerry - Massachusetts
Sen. Ted Kennedy - Massachusetts
Sen. Susan Collins - Maine
Sen. Olympia Snowe - Maine
Sen. Debbie Stabenow - Michigan
Sen. Mark Dayton - Minnesota
Sen. Norm Coleman - Minnesota
Sen. Thad Cochran - Mississippi
Sen. Trent Lott - Mississippi
Sen. Max Baucus - Montana
Sen. Richard Burr - North Carolina
Sen. Kent Conrad - North Dakota
Sen. Jeff Bingaman - New Mexico
Sen. Pete Domenici - New Mexico
Sen. Harry Reid - Nevada
Sen. John Ensign - Nevada
Sen. Hillary Clinton - New York
Sen. Charles Schumer - New York
Sen. James Inhofe - Oklahoma
Sen. Tom Coburn - Oklahoma
Sen. Ron Wyden - Oregon
Sen. Jack Reed - Rhode Island
Sen. Lincoln Chafee - Rhode Island
Sen. Jim DeMint - South Carolina
Sen. Lindsey Graham - South Carolina
Sen. Bill Frist - Tennessee
Sen. Lamar Alexander - Tennessee
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison - Texas
Sen. John Cornyn - Texas
Sen. Robert Bennett - Utah
Sen. George Allen - Virginia
Sen. John Warner - Virginia
Sen. Maria Cantwell - Washington
Sen. James Jeffords - Vermont
Sen. Russell Feingold - Wisconson
Sen. Michael Enzi - Wyoming
Sen. Craig Thomas - Wyoming

122 Representatives
Rep. Don Young - Alaska
Rep. Jo Bonner - Alabama
Rep. Mike Rogers - Alabama
Rep. Spencer Bachus - Alabama
Rep. Marion Berry - Arkansas
Rep. Barbara Lee - California
Rep. Dorris O. Matsui - California
Rep. George Miller - California
Rep. Grace F. Napolitano - California
Rep. Hilda Solis - California
Rep. Lois Capps - California
Rep. Maxine Waters - California
Rep. Nancy Pelosi - California
Rep. Zoe Lofgren - California
Rep. Adam Schiff - California
Rep. Xavier Becerra - California
Rep. Ken Calvert - California
Rep. Diana DeGette - Colorado
Rep. Chris Murphy - Conneticut
Rep. John Larson - Conneticut
Rep. Christopher Shays - Conneticut
Del. Donna Christensen - Delegate-Virgin Islands
Rep. Mike Castle - Deleware
Rep. Corrine Brown - Florida
Rep. Kendrick B. Meek - Florida
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz - Florida
Rep. Cynthia McKinney - Georgia
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland - Georgia
Rep. Tom Price - Georgia
Rep. Neil Abercrombie - Hawaii
Rep. Steve King - Iowa
Rep. Mike Simpson - Idaho
Rep. Dennis Hastert - Illinois
Rep. Janice Schakowsky - Illinois
Rep. Jerry F. Costello - Illinois
Rep. Donald Manzullo - Illinois
Rep. Mark Souder - Indiana
Rep. Jerry Moran - Kansas
Rep. Ed Whitfield - Kentucky
Rep. Bobby Jindal - Louisiana
Rep. Charles W. Boustany - Louisiana
Rep. Charlie Melancon - Louisiana
Rep. Jim McCrery - Louisiana
Rep. Rodney Alexander - Louisiana
Rep. William J. Jefferson - Louisiana
Rep. Richard H. Baker - Louisiana
Rep. Barney Frank - Massachusetts
Rep. John Tierney - Massachusetts
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings - Maryland
Rep. Steny Hoyer - Maryland
Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest - Maryland
Rep. Tom Allen - Maine
Rep. John Conyers - Michigan
Rep. Carolyn C. Kilpatrick - Michigan
Rep. Joe Knollenberg - Michigan
Rep. Bart Stupak - Michigan
Rep. Gil Gutknecht - Minnesota
Rep. Betty McCollum - Minnesota
Rep. James Oberstar - Minnesota
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver - Missouri
Rep. Roy Blunt - Missouri
Rep. Jo Ann Emerson - Missouri
Rep. Bennie Thompson - Mississippi
Rep. Chip Pickering - Mississippi
Rep. Gene Taylor - Mississippi
Rep. Roger Wicker - Mississippi
Rep. David Price - North Carolina
Rep. Bob Etheridge - North Carolina
Rep. G. K. Butterfield - North Carolina
Rep. Melvin Watt - North Carolina
Rep. Robin Hayes - North Carolina
Rep. Jeff Fortenberry - Nebraska
Rep. Mike Ferguson - New Jersey
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen - New Jersey
Rep. Rush D. Holt - New Jersey
Rep. Scott Garrett - New Jersey
Rep. Donald M. Payne - New Jersey
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy - New York
Rep. Gil Gutnecht - New York
Rep. Jerrold Nadler - New York
Rep. Peter King - New York
Rep. Nydia Velazquez - New York
Rep. Deborah Pryce - Ohio
Rep. John A. Boehner - Ohio
Rep. Dave Hobson - Ohio
Rep. Robert W. Ney - Ohio
Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones - Ohio
Rep. Dan Boren - Oklahoma
Rep. Ernest J. Istook Jr. - Oklahoma
Rep. Frank D. Lucas - Oklahoma
Rep. Earl Blumenauer - Oregon
Rep. Peter DeFazio - Oregon
Rep. Darlene Hooley - Oregon
Rep. Allyson Schwartz - Pennsylvania
Rep. Bill Shuster - Pennsylvania
Rep. Curt Weldon - Pennsylvania
Rep. Henry E. Brown - South Carolina
Rep. James E. Clyburn - South Carolina
Rep. Joe Wilson - South Carolina
Rep. Stephanie Herseth - South Dakota
Rep. Jim Cooper - Tennessee
Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr. - Tennessee
Rep. Marsha Blackburn - Tennessee
Rep. Zach Wamp - Tennessee
Rep. Kay Granger - Texas
Rep. Louie Gohmert - Texas
Rep. Ciro Rodriguez - Texas
Rep. Al Green - Texas
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson - Texas
Rep. Gene Green - Texas
Rep. Jeb Hensarling - Texas
Rep. Michael C. Burgess - Texas
Rep. Randy Neugebauer - Texas
Rep. Shelia Jackson-Lee - Texas
Rep. Tom DeLay - Texas
Rep. Michael McCaul - Texas
Rep. Randy Forbes - Virginia
Rep. Bob Goodlatte - Virginia
Rep. James Moran - Virginia
Rep. Tom Davis - Virginia
Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott - Virginia
Rep. Jim McDermott - Washington
Rep. Paul Ryan - Wisconson
Rep. Nick Rahall - West Virginia

And Who Hasn't

10 Number of states from which NO U.S. SENATOR has visited New Orleans after the hurricanes.
COLORADO
IOWA
MISSOURI
NEBRASKA
NEW HAMPSHIRE
NEW JERSEY
OHIO
PENNSYLVANIA
SOUTH DAKOTA
WEST VIRGINIA

9 Number of states from which NO MEMBER OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES has visited New Orleans after the hurricanes.
ARIZONA
MONTANA
NORTH DAKOTA
NEW MEXICO
NEVADA
RHODE ISLAND
UTAH
VERMONT
WYOMING

The East again

Moving Back to New Orleans East
From the Neighborhoods Partnership Network website, the story of
the slow process of recovery in New Orleans East Post Katrina.
With the help of the The Mennonite Disaster Relief Project
the Haynes are rebuilding their flood damaged home while living in a FEMA trailer across town.

" After a disaster as widespread as this, even the smallest signs of recapturing the old neighborhood bring joy. “When I first saw this gas station though, and red lights out here,” Beatrice recalls energetically, her voice rising in pitch and volume, “I must have screamed and hollered like I was at a football game…And my sister [on the phone], she’s like ‘Oh my god, calm down,’ and I was like ‘We’ve got a gas station open on Bullard! YES! YES! YES! And a red light! AHH!’”

"


Until you've been through the aftermath of something as destructive as
Katrina was, you can't understand how exciting regaining something as
innocuous as working traffic lights can be.

Katrina Cottages

Here's a tour of the Katrina Kernal Cottage 2
At 523 square feet it is a potential replacement for those nasty FEMA Trailers.

It was the same size as a FEMA emergency trailer, looks better and, while its initial cost was more than a small FEMA trailer, its advantages over the mid- and long-term were obvious given FEMA's track record of maintaining and disposing of their emergency trailers.
(A Kernel Cottage is a seed, or kernel, of the larger house it will grow into effortlessly through the Grow Zones. Thomas Jefferson built Monticello this way, living in one of the little cottages at the back of the house for several years as he built the larger main house. Much of America's traditional architecture is charming precisely because it has grown piece-by-piece over the years.)

Cottage Square in Ocean Springs, Miss., a development of 23
pre-manufactured cottages. Photo by Samantha Bearden.

What began as a conceptual drawing for emergency housing by New York designer Marianne Cusato has grown into a series of designs that make affordability beautiful.
The many variations and possible uses for the flexible Katrina Cottages are getting noticed, says Cusato, who has fielded calls from Kansas City, Kan., (officials there want to use them as homeless shelters) to as far away as Ghana. A separate series of Katrina Cottages are being developed for the private-sector market.

From The Town Paper website Here's more on Katrina Cottages:
Deriving the simple definition of 'Katrina Cottage,' we have a unit that may be manufactured, modularized, panelized, or site-built, and is 1,600 square feet or under, says Steve Mouzon of The New Urban Guild, which is currently collecting plans for possible manufacturing and publication in upcoming plan books in the following Katrina categories:

• Katrina Tiny Cottage: 500 square feet or under for one story, or 700 square feet or under for two stories
• Katrina Thin Cottage: Similar to the Katrina Tiny Cottage, except longer
• Katrina Double Cottage: Similar to the Double-Barrel Shotgun
• Katrina Duplex Cottage: Indiscernible from the Katrina Double Cottage from the outside, except Katrina Double Cottages have only one front door; the Katrina Duplex Cottage is actually two units
• Katrina Loft Cottage: Usually appears to be a one-story unit from the exterior, but contains a loft
• Katrina Tall Cottage: Two stories (or taller)
• Katrina Courtyard Cottage: Made up of two or more modules that wrap around a courtyard
• Katrina Live/Work: Just what the name implies; live/work units that can be modules
• Katrina Commercial: Retail or office only; contains open space plus a bath, probably a kitchenette, and possibly an office or storage

The New Urban Guild is also working on a series of sub-types, which can be made from one or more of the principal types above. These sub-types include:

• Katrina Corner Cottage: Able to turn either the end or the side (or both, in the case of a corner lot) to the street
• Katrina Carriage Cottage: Technique for raising a Katrina Cottage an entire floor so as to park one car beneath
• Katrina Kernel Cottage: Cottage capable of expanding directly from the unit itself, not just by connecting porches and the like

For Cusato, the Katrina Cottage is part of a larger vision to "take back the word 'affordable,' and remove the taboo associated with it. We shouldn't think less of anyone because of where they live, and they shouldn't think less of themselves. I think it's fully within our ability to change that."

Gary Delise, a resident of Arabi in New Orleans' St. Bernard Parish whose family lost their house and is now living in a FEMA trailer, says a Katrina Cottage would "beat a trailer by a long shot." He told Baton Rouge Advocate reporter Joe Gyan, "I think it would be a nice replacement. Not only a nice replacement, but a start to another house. If I could rebuild, that's what I would do. I'd like to have the house demolished and put this on it."

The history of the Katrina Cottage.

Here's a slideshow showing the construction of a typical Katrina Cottage.