Send in the Clowns
We are less than three weeks away from the second anniversary of Katrina and the related disaster of the levees.Harry Shearer has an, as usual, excellent piece on the current situation and the soon to be photo op of presidential candidates in The Huffington Post this morning. In that piece he points to an article in the Times-Picayune that details the people - important people - in Congress who have not been down to see what happened (and is happening). One could make the case for the fact that with tv and news coverage a person would not have to be in New Orleans to see what's wrong, but if yo made that case you'd be wrong.
The difference between what you are able to pick up from even the best news coverage, or from films like Spike's "When The Levees Broke" is not even a fragment of what you see and, more importantly, feel, by actually being here. For congressional leaders, elected fro, and charged with, managing the funds that run the country to simply skip out on the responsibility of viewing what government mismanagement (at all levels, but most aggregiously at the Federal level) has done to this city is absolutely shameful.
Additionally... today's TP, also features articles on the Corps of Engineers continuing acknowledgement of failure pre-Katrina, and its problems with coming up with a system to protect this city post-Katrina.
The later piece makes reference to a National geographic article in the August issue of that magazine, which offers the suggestion that New Orleans should perhaps no longer exist.What the F@#K!?!?!?
Does anyone (especially The National Geographic) ever suggest that perhaps it's time for Venice to fade into the sunset? Or The Netherlands... or London?Or Sacramento, where the same Corps of Engineeers has built similarly unsatisfactory levees? Or... any of the long list of problematic levee locations in every state of this country?
I have a friend in California who only half jokingly suggests that we should not spend money to protect people who live below sea level, but he's never really answered my corresponding question about people (like both of us) who choose to live in a place with a very high probablity of a huge and catastrophic earthquake.
The fact is... we are all... and I really do mean ALL... in this together. And it really is well past the time for people to start actually paying attention to something besides baseball.
posted by Thom @ 6:45 AM
2 Comments:
The second annual Rising Tide conference will be held August 24-26, 2007, at the New Orleans Yacht Club. This is a NOLA blogger-organized and supported conference featuring speakers, panels, breakout sessions, and other dialogs on the future of the city of New Orleans.
This year's emphasis is on ground-level, grass-roots efforts. It has become clear to those of us in south Louisiana that we will have to watch the watchmen, as well as take the upper hand in setting the city back on track. To that end, there will be presentations on local politics and how to influence them, making civics sexy, sustainability, levee engineering, and media outreach.
The keynote speaker is Dave Zirin, author of Welcome to the Terrordome, published by Haymarket Press, a columnist for SLAM Magazine, a regular contributor to the Nation Magazine, and a regular op-ed writer for the Los Angeles Times. Timothy Ruppert, president of the Louisiana Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, will give a comprehensive report on the status of our levee protection two years after the failure of the federal levees brought catastrophe to New Orleans. Matt McBride of Fix the Pumps will present via video conference. Panelists will include community activists Karen Gadbois of Squandered Heritage, Bart Everson of B.Rox, and Peter Athas of Adrastos, muckraking blogger Mark Moseley of Your Right Hand Thief, New Orleans political sage Michael Duplantier and author Joshua Clark (Heart Like Water).
On Friday, August 24, there will be a party at Buffa's Lounge featuring the work of New Orleans videographers, and Sunday is reserved for a hands-on service project in aid of the NOLA school system. At the Buffa's party, we are serving cocktail party-type food, but there will be a cash bar.
The weekend's events costs $20 per person. This includes admission to the Friday night party at Buffa's, Saturday's events at the New Orleans Yacht Club (including morning coffee and croissants and lunch from Dunbar's), and participation in the Sunday service project. Please register to attend using the PayPal link on the website. If you don't use PayPal, feel free to call or e-mail me to reserve your space at the conference and, more importantly, your lunch from Dunbar's. We have no problem with people paying at the door, we just need to know that you are coming.
There will, of course, be liveblogging of the event, and materials available online. If you can't come, there is also a paypal link if you'd care to donate (this is a non-profit endeavor). Feel free to contact us through the website, or ask questions by replying to this e-mail. Rising Tide's toll-free phone number is: 866-910-2055.
Although I am sending this e-mail to over 200 people, I'm sure I'm missing some. Please forward this to anyone you think might be interested. Unless they have a blog or have expressed interest in the past, they are probably not on my e-mail list. Also, bloggers, please spread the word on your blogs!
Thanks for your support, Kim Marshall
What she said.
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