Comments on: Getting Our House in Order?

By: Jon Swift

Jon Swift — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 12:04:04 +0000

President Bush Is Doing a Heck of a Job

Hurricane Katrina gave President Bush the opportunity to show what compassionate conservatism really meant.

By: gc wall

gc wall — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 00:15:17 +0000

Nah, one in three; it couldn’t be. I refuse to believe that one sixth of the voting public are so subserviant, so obsequious, so suggestible, and such sycophants that a number as great as one sixth, (assuming that half the eligible voters wouldn’t be contacted because they would be judged liberally malfunctioning,) of voting Americans, would answer in the affirmative in such vast numbers. Why that is fifteen percent plus – a statistical impossibility.

The poll must be skewed, or the pollsters must have been stewed, or those being interviewed did not understand the questions or the questions asked were extremely manipulative. I am shocked, catatonic, and my cognitive dissonance is in overdrive – well you get the idea. I am forced to invent reasons why this could occur, because nothing in the material world explains this phenomenon.

By: iowa christine

iowa christine — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 23:16:36 +0000

Nefarious and sofistic – yeah, I’m aware of that as well. Then there’s Mt Reiner (sp??) and Yellowstone volcanos. I’ve read posts on this site that will state that an earthquake is a local issue and can be handled at the local level. I don’t hold with that necessarily. A 5 pt on the richter, yeah, the locals probably can deal with it and others would probably get in the way. But, when a 9 pt rolls through….. y’all are going to need all the help you can get.

By: dead last

dead last — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 21:53:14 +0000

I have been spending a lot of time in the Lower 9th, East New Orleans, and the surrounding areas over the past month. Every part of town was effected. Some areas are bouncing back, relatively. But the really devastated areas, those that were under 10 feet of water, are in a world of hurt. They have at best minimal services we take for granted: grocery stores, restaurants, etc.

Besides the lack of money flowing in, the biggest problem is that people are still really afraid. The Corps of Engineers wants to build a Dutch-type flood gate along the intercoastal waterway. The only problem is that such a gate would nearly gaurantee future flooding of East New Orleans, the lower 9th Ward, and St. Bernard Parish. The Mayor of St. Bernard said that he would personally blow it up if they build it.

While in New Orleans, I saw “An Incovienent Truth.” Al Gore prophicies that with global warming, Greenland or Antarctica will melt, causing the oceans to permanently rise 20 feet. The levees are not that high. All our spending will be for naught. But it will make us feel like we did something.

I want New Orleans to keep living. I also want deforestation to be reversed. I also want all of those endangered species to come back to life.

By: ccmask

ccmask — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 21:51:39 +0000

FloridaMom_ You stay safe too. I wonder if the elections will have to be cancelled…..

By: Evil Parallel Universe

Evil Parallel Universe — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 20:54:11 +0000

Well, I got my “anome” definition from a leader in Behavioralism who was specifically using it in its mental disease sense.

Specifically, he used the example of James Forrestal who he considered (actually he was certain) was an “anomic” suicide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Forrestal

By: sofistic

sofistic — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 20:47:28 +0000

Evil Parallel Universe @ 151

Sofistic - That would translate as when your “structure” proves false - a house of cards in effect.

Whence “Bubble Boy.” Reality really is a bitch.

You got it EPU. In a past life, I was a sociologist, and studied Durkheim and Weber a lot, and of course Marx talked a lot about alienation. But not much is mentioned about anomia (anomie); but I think Durkheim got it right.

By: sofistic

sofistic — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 20:43:06 +0000

Another “big one” that nobody talks about is the North American Plate along the Oregon and norhtern California coast. It is a subduction fault and could potentially rearrange the entire pacific northwest.

By: Evil Parallel Universe

Evil Parallel Universe — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 20:42:51 +0000

Sofistic – That would translate as when your “structure” proves false – a house of cards in effect.

Whence “Bubble Boy.” Reality really is a bitch.

By: The Nefarious Leslie

The Nefarious Leslie — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 20:40:25 +0000

iowa christine @ 94

Imagine if the New Madrid fault were to rip a new one…… St Louis, Nashville, Little Rock, Memphis, and probably Des Monies, and Chicago (not to mention all the ’small’ towns in between) will all be leveled. It’ll make NOLA look like a picnic. There are no plans for anything should New Madrid go and it’s due to do so. It’s been almost 200 years and IIRC, geologists estimate that it has a 150 - 200 year cycle.

This country cannot manage a large regional disaster at the federal level. They couldn’t do it for the Floods of ‘93, they couldn’t do it after Katrina, and they can’t do it now. The gov’t at all levels have the power to wave any number of ‘rules’ in order to have things happen and they have chosen not to do so.

The southern end of the San Andreas is also overdue for the next Big One.