Featured Articles

Gone with the Water

From an article in the October 2004 issue of National Geographic magazine:

It was a broiling August afternoon in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Big Easy, the City That Care Forgot. Those who ventured outside moved as if they were swimming in tupelo honey. Those inside paid silent homage to the man who invented air-conditioning as they watched TV "storm teams" warn of a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. Nothing surprising there: Hurricanes in August are as much a part of life in this town as hangovers on Ash Wednesday.

But the next day the storm gathered steam and drew a bead on the city. As the whirling maelstrom approached the coast, more than a million people evacuated to higher ground. Some 200,000 remained, however?the car-less, the homeless, the aged and infirm, and those die-hard New Orleanians who look for any excuse to throw a party.

Sound familiar? Read on:

Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.

Fortunately the casualty rate doesn't seem to be this high for NOLA, but the rest sounds spot on.

When did this calamity happen? It hasn't?yet. But the doomsday scenario is not far-fetched. The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City. Even the Red Cross no longer opens hurricane shelters in the city, claiming the risk to its workers is too great.

Pretty good for a year in advance. Imagine what would have happened if the Louisiana state government, and the City of New Orleans had made some realistic emergency plans based on this sort of projection.

Like it should have been their priority, since they're the ones directly on the scene - right? As it turned out, wrong!

I spent the last five days in the gorgeous District of Columbia straddling two academic conferences: The annual meetings of the American Political Science Association, and the Association of Politics and Life Sciences. APLS was more interesting to me because...

Sen. John Thune, (R-SD)issued the following comment on yesterdays RINO-Donk "Compromise" deal:

?I?m happy to see that three of the President?s judicial nominees will receive an up or down vote. However, I still believe that all judicial nominees with majority support deserve the fairness of an up or down vote on the Senate floor.?

Nothing there the Chief would disagree with. We did well to get Thune elected instead of that weasel Daschle!

More detailed MSM spiel on this here in the Argus.

Post updated on 9-3-2005! Now accepting PayPal donations! Scroll down for details. Last night I mentioned that I was helping out on a cool project to get a truckload of relief supplies delivered to Mississippi from my local community. Today,...

I have been taking heat for the post that points out the lack of International aid to the US for the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. Here is one email:In light of your unbelievably ignorant and ridiculous post US on...

Doug Wiken has a comment on Mount Blogmore where he downplays lying under oath when the issue of Bill Clinton?s impeachment was brought up. Then he dismisses immoral behavior:We can be appalled by Clinton?s lack of sexual discretion and can...

John Leo on the MSM Looking the Other Way. Excerpt:On August 6, as her 15 minutes of fame was just beginning, Cindy Sheehan used an odd term in a TV interview with Mark Knoller of CBS. She referred to the...

The main editorial in today's Rapid City Journal: Journal editorial, 9-4: Give credit to John Thune By The Journal Editorial Board Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan. - President John F. Kennedy Many people deserve credit...

A Message from tdaxp

Send feedback to danhabbott@gmail.com

Browse the Archives

What's New with the Blogs

South Dakota Blogs

American Blogs

Pro-Freedom, Anti-Terror

South Dakota Blog Alliance

RadioActive Chief, Ryen McClaren, Sibby Online, South Dakota Politics, Straight Talk

tdaxp Blog Network

Jim River Report, tdaxp, Bloglines, Cobuyitaphobia, Junk Politics

Breaking News

South Dakota Mainstream Media

American Mainstream Media

British Mainstream Media

Everyone Else

Jim River Report Archives

1. today
2. this month
3. this year

How Popular is the Jim River Report?