Obama to address storm before starting trip

[Maxf1ex]

Obama to address storm before starting trip
www.wral.com/news/story/11476751/

I sure hope he is better at being a weatherman then he has been as an elected official. If not, the people are once again doomed.

The White House is aiming to balance leadership on the storm with the president's campaign plans.

Funny, thought local leadership already had plans in place and all that needs doing is to just follow them.

[george1861]

They'll probably fly him down there & stage a photo of him carrying a child to safety. His tribute to Armstrong included a pic of him gazing @ the Moon, instead of a pic of Armstrong.

[jayohen]

meanwhile, Gov Bobby Jindal who never misses an opportunity to complain about federal spending is whining about not getting reimbursed by the feds for disaster expenses made by the state.
"WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in Louisiana on Monday as that state and others along the Gulf Coast prepared for Tropical Storm Isaac.
The White House said Obama informed Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal of the emergency declaration in a phone call. The declaration makes federal support available to save lives, protect public health and safety and preserve property in coastal areas.
Jindal, a Republican, shot back late Monday in a letter to the Obama administration that the declaration fell short of the help he was requesting.
"We appreciate your response to our request and your approval," Jindal wrote. "However, the state's original request for federal assistance .... included a request for reimbursement for all emergency protective measures. The federal declaration of emergency only provides for direct federal assistance."

Sorry Bobby, you can't have it both ways, but nice try.

[msguide]

Aug 28, 2012 5:20:43 GMT -8 Maxf1ex said:

Obama to address storm before starting trip

Before the storm? Wow! That's way faster than when he did a flyover after our town had been underwater for a week.

[jayohen]

Aug 28, 2012 19:44:07 GMT -8 msguide said:

Aug 28, 2012 5:20:43 GMT -8 Maxf1ex said:

Obama to address storm before starting trip

Before the storm? Wow! That's way faster than when he did a flyover after our town had been underwater for a week.

so you're another one of those people who don't want to pay taxes for a greater good then you whine when the help isn't there right away?
Oh yeah, you live in a red welfare state- a state that takes more money and resources than you provide to society.
Gotta love that sense of entitlement!

[Maxf1ex]

Aug 28, 2012 20:14:59 GMT -8 jayohen said:

Aug 28, 2012 19:44:07 GMT -8 msguide said:

Before the storm? Wow! That's way faster than when he did a flyover after our town had been underwater for a week.

so you're another one of those people who don't want to pay taxes for a greater good then you whine when the help isn't there right away?
Oh yeah, you live in a red welfare state- a state that takes more money and resources than you provide to society.
Gotta love that sense of entitlement!

~chuckle~ Kind of foolish making such a statement, and if you were not a regular here I might even mistake your statement as for being how you see it.

But, since you are a long time member I know you know she believes taxes are needed. And she has never had any trouble paying her fair share. The trouble starts when "fair share" turns into support of the welfare cheats.

[Maxf1ex]

Aug 28, 2012 7:57:14 GMT -8 jayohen said:

meanwhile, Gov Bobby Jindal who never misses an opportunity to complain about federal spending is whining about not getting reimbursed by the feds for disaster expenses made by the state.
"WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in Louisiana on Monday as that state and others along the Gulf Coast prepared for Tropical Storm Isaac.
The White House said Obama informed Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal of the emergency declaration in a phone call. The declaration makes federal support available to save lives, protect public health and safety and preserve property in coastal areas.
Jindal, a Republican, shot back late Monday in a letter to the Obama administration that the declaration fell short of the help he was requesting.
"We appreciate your response to our request and your approval," Jindal wrote. "However, the state's original request for federal assistance .... included a request for reimbursement for all emergency protective measures. The federal declaration of emergency only provides for direct federal assistance."

Sorry Bobby, you can't have it both ways, but nice try.

I have trouble seeing this as an emergency. After all, living in a low lying area which get hit by storms every few years should know and plan for such acts of nature. Much like the building codes in earth quake areas take earth quakes into account when being built.

This storm is nothing new. And the state (not the Federal government) should have plans in place, charge taxes to take into account for the rebuilding which needs doing and not count on the Federal Government for rebuilding.

[Maxf1ex]

Aug 28, 2012 5:57:24 GMT -8 george1861 said:

They'll probably fly him down there & stage a photo of him carrying a child to safety. His tribute to Armstrong included a pic of him gazing @ the Moon, instead of a pic of Armstrong.

~chuckle~ He does need all the help he can get to win re-election. I guess looking thoughtful without action might work.

[msguide]

Aug 28, 2012 20:14:59 GMT -8 jayohen said:

Aug 28, 2012 19:44:07 GMT -8 msguide said:

Before the storm? Wow! That's way faster than when he did a flyover after our town had been underwater for a week.

so you're another one of those people who don't want to pay taxes for a greater good then you whine when the help isn't there right away?
Oh yeah, you live in a red welfare state- a state that takes more money and resources than you provide to society.
Gotta love that sense of entitlement!

Making sport of the misfortune for political purposes takes a special lack of compassion and character. And this is the kind of person who thinks *I* should be more compassionate. Wow.

If you've noticed, Nashville rebuilt itself better than before and we are not too proud to see the good that came out of the devastation. Oh, and those displaced by Katrina who now make their homes among us saw how a diverse city gets back on its feet all by itself by working together.

[Maxflex]

I wonder if Obama will address this future problem?

Or should the city really think about getting a budget ready now?

One thing for sure, if the city takes care of this, it should not need another state of emergency for 100 years.

If the city does not looks toward its future, then this is just 13 billion down the drain.

By the time the next hurricane season starts in June of 2013, the city will take control of much of a revamped protection system of gates, walls and armored levees that the Army Corps of Engineers has spent about $12 billion building. The corps has about $1 billion worth of work left.

Engineers consider it a Rolls Royce of flood protection — comparable to systems in seaside European cities such as St. Petersburg, Venice, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Whether the infrastructure can hold is less in question than whether New Orleans can be trusted with the keys.

The Army Corps estimates it will take $38 million a year to pay for upkeep, maintenance and operational costs after it's turned over to local officials.

Local flood-control chief Robert Turner said he has questions about where that money will come from. At current funding levels, the region will run out of money to properly operate the high-powered system within a decade unless a new revenue source is found.

"There's a price to pay for resiliency," the levee engineer said from his office at the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East. "We can't let pieces of this system die away. We can't be parochial about it."

On Nov. 6, New Orleans voters were faced with one of their first challenges on flood protection when they voted on renewal of a critical levee tax. The tax levy was approved, meaning millions of dollars should be available annually for levee maintenance.

Bob Bea, a civil engineer at the University of California, said the region must find additional money to keep the system working properly. "If you try to operate it and maintain it on a shoestring, then it won't provide the protection that people deserve."

Many locals remain uneasy, even though Turner's agency is a welcome replacement for local levee boards that were previously derided.

"It's scary," said C. Ray Bergeron, owner of Fleur De Lis Car Care, a service station in the Lakeview neighborhood where water rose to rooftops after levees collapsed during Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Before Katrina, Bergeron said the local levee boards were complacent. "They told everybody everything was fine, 'oh yeah, it's fine. Let's go have martinis and lunch.'"

After Katrina, the locally run levee boards that oversaw the area's defenses were vilified, and quickly replaced by the regional levee district run by Turner.

Congressional investigations found the old Orleans Levee Board more interested in managing a casino license and two marinas than looking after levees. Inspections were ceremonial, millions of dollars were spent on a fountain and overpasses rather than on levee protection. And there was confusion over who was responsible for managing the fragmented levee system, U.S. Senate investigations revealed.

Still, experts generally agree the old levee board's failings did not cause the levees to collapse during Katrina. Poor levee designs by the corps and the sheer strength of Katrina get the lion's share of the blame.

Since the Flood Control Act of 1936, the Army Corps has given local or state authorities oversight of water-control projects, whether earthen levees in the Midwest or beach walls in New England.

"That's been the eternal problem with flood-protection systems," said Thomas Wolff, an engineer at Michigan State University. "You build something very good and then give it to local interests who are not as well-funded."

New Orleans is an unusual case because the area is inheriting the nation's first-of-its-kind urban flood control system.

"We've given a very expensive system to a place that may not be able to afford it over the long term," said Leonard Shabman, an Arlington, Va.-based water resources expert. Letting the Army Corps run it isn't much of a solution either, he added. "It's not like the corps' budget is flush."