We’re looking at another anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
I copied some facts about Katrina from a FOX News site:
The overall destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina, which was both a large and powerful hurricane as well as a catastrophic flood, vastly exceeded that of any other major disaster, such as the Chicago Fire of 1871, the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906, and Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
In the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Katrina battered the offshore energy infrastructure and forced the evacuation of more than 75 percent of the Gulf’s 819 manned oil platforms.
Two days before landfall, U.S. energy companies estimated that the approaching storm had already reduced Gulf of Mexico oil production by more than a third.
In all, Hurricane Katrina affected nearly 93,000 square miles across 138 parishes and counties.
Hurricane Katrina’s winds and a storm surge that crested up to 27 feet high dealt a ferocious blow to homes, businesses, and property on the coast and for many miles inland.
reaches of the Mississippi River and the edges of Lake Pontchartrain.
The consequences for New Orleans, which sits mostly below sea level, were dire. Significant levee failures occurred on the 17th Street Canal, the Industrial Canal, and the London Avenue Canal. Approximately 80 percent of the city was flooded. The flooding destroyed New Orleans, the Nation’s thirty-fifth largest city.
From Morgan City, Louisiana, to Biloxi, Mississippi, to Mobile, Alabama, Hurricane Katrina’s wind, rain, and storm surge demolished homes and businesses. Large parts of the coastal areas of these States were devastated.
Katrina caused an estimated $96 billion dollars in damage.
The American Insurance Services Group (AISG) estimates that Katrina is responsible for $40.6 billion of insured losses in the United States
Estimated damage from Hurricane Katrina and the New Orleans Flood: Housing — $67 billion; Consumer durable goods — $7 billion; Business property — $20 billion; Government property — $3 billion
Hurricane Katrina devastated far more residential property than had any other recent hurricane, completely destroying or making uninhabitable an estimated 300,000 homes.
Katrina far surpasses the residential damage of Hurricane Andrew, which destroyed or damaged approximately 80,000 homes in 1992. It even exceeds the combined damage of the four major 2004 hurricanes, Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne, which together destroyed or damaged approximately 85,000 homes.
The storm destroyed so many homes, buildings, forests, and green spaces that an extraordinary amount of debris was left behind — 118 million cubic yards all told. In comparison, Hurricane Andrew created 20 million cubic yards of debris.
The debris from Katrina, if stacked onto the space of a football field, would reach over ten and a half miles high.
When the winds and floods of Hurricane Katrina subsided, an estimated 1,833 people died directly or indirectly died from Katrina: (National Hurricane Center – Aug 10, 2006)
The vast majority of the fatalities — an estimated 80 percent — came from the New Orleans metropolitan area
1,464 deaths in Louisiana from Katrina (LA Dept of Health)
Mississippi suffered greatly as well, with 238 fatalities (MS Dept of Health)
14 deaths in Florida (CDC, March 2006)
2 deaths in Alabama
2 deaths in Georgia from Katrina
In Louisiana, approximately 71 percent of the victims were older than sixty, and 47 percent of those were over seventy-five. At least sixty-eight were found in nursing homes, some of whom were allegedly abandoned by their caretakers.
Of the total known fatalities, there are almost two hundred unclaimed bodies remaining at the Victim Identification Center in Carville, Louisiana.
As of August 8, 2006, there were 135 people from Louisiana still reported as missing.
Around 770,000 people were displaced — the largest since the Dust Bowl migration from the southern Great Plains region in the 1930s.
Many victims found it difficult to reconstruct their shattered lives. In many cases, they had either lost or forgotten basic documents, such as insurance information, birth certificates, and marriage licenses, which would later prove essential to rebuilding their lives. Most of the evacuees did not have access to their medical records, which increased the risk of complications when receiving medical treatment.52 For those who returned to their homes in the Gulf region, basic services were still wanting.
By January 2006, 85 percent of public schools in Orleans parish had still not reopened; in the metropolitan area, approximately two-thirds of the retail food establishments, half of the bus routes, and half of the major hospitals remained closed.
Of the 1.1 million people over the age of sixteen who evacuated in August 2005, approximately 500,000 of those evacuees had not returned home by late December.
Many of us Americans gave up our vacations to spend time in the damaged wards of New Orleans cleaning up streets and homes as well as helping locally here in Denver and other cities Nation wide making victims welcome and giving money, clothes and food to help these folks start their lives anew.
The Gov’t has made available to the victims, low to no interest home loans and small business loans.
Habitat for Humanity has built more than 2100 homes since recovery efforts began.
It has been estimated that through private donations to organizations such as Red Cross, Americans alone gave enough cash for each displaced person to receive around $1300.
That’s more than a billion dollars.
So far the Federal Government has given $114 Billion dollars in aid and credit towards the recovery and relief of the city.
Here’s the sad part:
Less than 60% of pre-hurricane residents have returned to the city.
Because of that, thousands of workers that migrated to the city are now out of jobs and living in condemned homes throughout the city with residents who’ve refused to move, or rebuild and who also live in the condemned homes and buildings.
Many businesses that have decended on the city to return and rebuild have abandonded the city after the realization that there is no future in the city.
I was disappointed to see a petition circulating that states that there is nothing being done to rebuild the city, towards the relief and recovery efforts and that it’s the sole responsibility of the Bush Administration for the retardation of the rebuilding of the city.
An accompaning article states that it is the Federal Governments responsibility to rebuild the levees that protect this below-sea level city.
The article did not mention that the city residents, Mayor and State Govenor voted twice to kill bills and funding to repair and replace the delapitated levee system.
Reports published by the liberal leaders of Congress and the State of Louisiana estimate the rebuilding costs to be more than $250 BILLION dollars.
That’s nearly $1000 per American.
Not much, right?
Maybe not but let’s see what it is we’re rebuilding.
Yes it’s a cultural mecca but it’s only the 35th largest city in the Nation and while the cultures are not exactly the same, we have the same mix and melting pots in other port cities such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami.
On that note, NOLA (New Orleans, Lousiana) is only the 7th largest port in the nation and pre-hurricane, only ranked 26 in income for ports around the nation.
The article reported that the NO Chamber of Commerce is bragging about the normalcy of the state of affairs in the city.
Even the Mayor bad mouthed his own city.
White collar and street crime is on the rise in the city, surpassing pre-hurricane levels.
From the Mayor to City Council members and reconstruction contractors.
So we’re not only building a gem at the mouth of the Mighty Mississippi but we’re also sinking hundreds of billions of dollars into a city that could be struck again, at any time and be destroyed.
Then we’d be right back here, looking at whether to rebuild again.
Now, all the cold hard facts aside should we help our fellow Americans relocate, rebuild and replace what was lost?
Yes!
If my house was destroyed by a natural disaster would I ask for help?
I would ask, I suppose.
Would I expect it?
Well, if my home was in the path of recurring natural disasters, if I refused to pay for and voted against measures to protect me from those disasters and turned my back on all the studies and warnings that those disasters were coming so I stubbbornly remained in the path of those disasters; I’d not expect folks to reward my behaviour.
I put it this way when writing to the author of the email that included the petition to support that Bill:
“If the volcano in Hawaii covered a city during a lava flow, and the flow was still a threat, would you rebuild the city and move people back in the path of the lava?
Even if you were able to build a wall that could potentially divert and protect against future flows?
What’s more compassionate, what’s more loving?
Putting people back in harm’s way (simply giving them fish to eat) or offering them safe homes and new cities in which to rebuild their families and lives (teaching them to fish)?”
How do y’all feel about rebuilding New New Orleans?
Ok, so here in Denver potheads made it legal to possess small amounts of marijuana.
Unfortunately for them, the State law reads that it is illegal.
As the potheads had a few moments of clarity between highs, they realized their blunder and tried to make it legal Statewide but of course they failed.
So now, dope smokers in the city of Denver who legally carry their weed around with them can be arrested and prosecuted!
The head pothead, Mason Tvert of Citizen for a Safer Denver, is leading the weed decriminalization efforts and has been collecting signatures via petitions in order to place an initiative on the ballot that would tell police to make busting these marijuana zombies who are in possession of an illegal substance their lowest priority.
They want to tell cops how to do their jobs!
So while these numb nuts are running around getting high, it turns out that the Mayor of Denver and four of his City Council members have admitted to having smoked pot.
Of course they all did it when they were kids, long ago in most cases.
Hell, I did it when I was young and dumb.
So who the heck cares?
Unlike Clinton comitting adultery and perjury while in office, these guy are not doing it currently, while they represent us.
SO I ask again:
WHO CARES?
Now here’s a 19 year old who has a very educated head on her shoulders.
She very definatively debates the liberal rebuttal and if you read the comments associated with the video you’ll find that others are attracted to her lead.
The argument FOR school vouchers marches on in this video…
She’s very intelligent and she has a ton of potential but I’m afraid she uses her power for the “Dark Side”.
Still, you gotta love her!
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Yup:
Another political/”religious” rant.
I’m just tired of every liberal in America asking for every vote to count in elections (democracy and not Republic) yet when it comes to our tax dollars and using them fairly and applying them equally, they’ll have none of it!
In a free market system, if a product is good, folks will support it.
If the liberals think their religious indoctrination camps (read - public schools) are all that over private schools, then why not allow Americans to spend their own money as they see fit?
Let us vote with our dollars whether to support their religions and world views.
I guarantee that in a heart beat their school size would shrink to at most 50% of what it currently is.
That would take our tax dollars out of their coffers and cause them to cut back on their liberal spending.
It would increase the enrollment of good schools around this Nation and cause our children to become more intelligent and get back into the competition with the students from around the world.
Not to mention making them better people and better Americans.
On Friday, I answered why I don’t blog much about news from the younger generation. My post below, about Teen Idols, pointed out that most of the current idols are drunken criminal flashers!
On Friday night California hosted the Miss Teen USA pageant.
Miss Colorado won.
Hilary Carol Cruz, of Louisville, also won the 2006 Miss Colorado Teen title.
She is a smart cookie and I would recommend her as an idol to the younger generation.
Unfortunately she is not in good company.
The third runner up (4th place) was Caitlin Upton from South Carolina.
How she got in the top five to represent our Nation is beyond me.
As a male, I gotta admit that a pretty face isn’t all I notice.
I know I know, you gals believe us guys are really that shallow but seriously, if a pretty woman opens her mouth and out comes the drivel I’m about to show you…
Well here, why don’t you watch this video clip and tell me if you think this kid should have made it to 4th place.
And by the way:
Congratulations to Hilary Cruz, Miss Colorado Teen 2006 and Miss Teen USA 2007!
So I started out by trying to make a video but it turned into me making a video about me trying to make a video while taking calls from danged near everybody.
So tonight’s Vlog is now about me trying to make a video but taking too many calls and so now it’s a video about me trying to make a video about me taking calls while trying to make that video about me making a video…
Wait…
Now I’ve just confused myself.
OH SNAP!
There’s the phone.
I gotta go.
Have a great weekend and turn the phone off.
I’ve gotten a few emails from some younger readers, a couple from YouTube.
They are asking me why I don’t write about “young people news”.
I really don’t have much to say about the younger generations just yet.
You kiddos are not being represented very well.
Take a few of your idols for example:
Britany Spears
Paris Hilton
Nicole Richie
Lindsay Lohan
These gals are anorexic, alcoholics, criminals, promiscuous, living in rehabs, jail cells and flashing their privates all over the world in the media.
Somebody give me some good examples of great teens and Gen Nexters so I can highlight and rave about y’all.
Mark your calendars.
Colorado, the Mountains not Denver, got out first snowfall of the season last night.
According to NOAA, the earliest measurable snowfall in Denver was September.
I’ve been unable to find a stat for the State in general.
So mark your calendars, people.
August 24th, 2007.
Our first snowfall here in Colorado for the 2007/2008 season.
I hope it’s a repeat of the last season: feet and feet and feet of snow!
I don’t mind shoveling and using my chains.
So Tom Tancedo and Geraldo appeared on FOX News’ Hannity & Colmes.
As usual, Geraldo makes a fool of himself and can’t help but to avoid the facts and the topic by trying to change the direction and subject.
They started by talking about the August 4th shooting of 4 Americans college student.
All four were made to kneel at a wall and were shot in the head.
Three of them were murdered and one survived.
At least one (Jose Carranza) of the six “immigrants” arrested for the shootings is here illegally.
Two were caught running for the borders.
FBI Fugitive Task Force arrested 10 other illegal immigrants during the operation.
Jose Carranza, an illegal immigrant was out on bond after a 31 count indictment for the rape of an American child when he took the opportunity to murder the 3 American college students.
His illegal status had been concealed in court so that he would not be deported because Newark, NJ is a sanctuary city. They don’t ask if you don’t tell whether you’re a criminal (illegal).
Geraldo was defending this man and deflecting direct questions by asking why this man was out on bond after being indicted on 31 counts of raping a child.
All in all, had this man been exposed as an illegal immigrant, he would have been deported and would not have been on the streets to murder three Americans.
Then Geraldo, in further attempts to distract us from the fact that he was not answering questions on topic, brought up another criminal case involving an illegal immigrant.
An American nutjob was running around raping little girls and Adre’Anna Jackson became his latest victim.
She was murdered.
At first we all thought the rapist/murderer was an illegal immigrant but it turned out that the victim was.
Americans went nuts at first, thinking yet another illegal immigrant was committing more crimes in our country but fell silent when the child victim turned out to be the illegal.
Geraldo tried to use her as a point that when the criminal was an American and the victim an illegal, Americans had nothing to say and were speechless.
Tom Tancredo had too much tact and decorum to try to scream it out with Geraldo and explain to him that Americans were silent out of respect for a child, illegal or not.
What we could have done was blame her parents, saying that if they had not invaded our country and broken the law to enter, maybe she would still be alive.
She didn’t die nor deserve to die because she was here illegally but she certainly could have avoided the murderer/rapist had she not been here.
But all that would have been disrespectful so Americans let it go.
Of course, making an ass of himself, Geraldo had to jump on the whack-job wagon and wear the topic raw.
All in all, Geraldo embarassed himself, as usual.
As if he ever really had any “cred”, respect or career, it’d be shot by now.
He’s taking the side of criminals, felons, illegal immigrants and anti-American invaders and once this issue is put to rest, America is going to have a pretty good idea where Geraldo stood during this tiff.
What it all boils down to is that Geraldo is a perfect illustration of the anti-American liberal left (now calling themselves “Progressives”) who support criminal behaviour, illegal immigration and rewarding invaders with the rights reserved for those who work for it by entering and processing legally.
Geraldo calls himself an American and with that comes the right to voice his anti-American propaganda as he does.
But he’s embarassing and I’d rather be associated with the likes of a God fearing, Patriotic America loving citizen such as Tom Tancredo.
