Hurricane Katrina Aftermath (and other stuff I find interesting)

Tropical Depression One forms in the Gulf

if you are independently wealthy or plan on riding the next one out. It's an all in one sattelite phone antenna and battery, including a hookup for your laptop so you can get high-speed broadband internet service. All while you sit in the dark and snack on vienna sausage.

http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/08/5-000-satellite-hurricane-phone-for-the-paranoid/

This is an exciting project that has been undertaken by many celebrities and Habitat for Humanity. The goal is to eventually build 300 homes in the 9th ward for musicians whose homes were destroyed by Katrina's waters. Read the full story for full effect, but I would like to share this quote from local musician and general good-guy Freddy Omar.

I am especially honored that I will be living in the Musicians’ Village and
cannot wait to begin teaching music to the neighborhood children

In a city often short on good news these days, you've got to celebrate that. Full story here

Now the House of Representatives is moving to kill the search warrant that was signed to search Rep Jefferson's office. The House said the following in their motion:

"The execution of the warrant poses a grave threat to the separation of powers
principle that is the very foundation of our government's structure"

I've always been a big believer in separation of powers, and I'm sure that was taken into account when the Federal Judge approved the FBI's search warrant. The evidence surely had to be compelling to allow such an unprecidented search. However, it's ridiculous to think that a congressperson's office on Capitol Hill is such hallowed ground that it can never be searched. We often forget (they often forget also), but these men and women are citizens just like the rest of us, subject to the same laws. There's no reason that they shouldn't be subject to the same searches.

Full story on washingtonpost.com

I can't believe that Bill Jefferson can still hold a straight face when he says he did nothing wrong regarding taking payments to become involved in a scheme to bring broadband internet to Nigeria. Take a look at this incredible graphic from the Washington Post and you'll see what I mean.

A new and interesting wrinkle here is that it seems that many more of his family members are involved in this than were originally thought. This is bad news for Louisiana when we need all the help we can get right now, but in the long run it would be great to have him out of office for good.

Props to YRHT for great coverage of this developing story, and so many others.

or should there be more oversight of the work that they do? It appears that our Senators are trying to push through a measure that would loosen the oversight of the Corps, allowing them to build projects as they see fit. Doesn't it seem obvious to everybody else that we should have an independent team looking at these projects beforehand, lest we all flood again?

Full story here

Katrina victim found in New Orleans house

Comic Relief returning after eight years to help Katrina recovery

After Katrina, New Fear Along Coast

Rob Thomas Announces Tour Initiative to Aid Hurricane Katrina Affected Schools

An Autopsy of Katrina: Four Storms, Not Just One
This is a facinating read from the NYTimes.

The first stage of Hurricane Katrina touched Louisiana as it passed south of the city in the Plaquemines Parish town of Buras with winds of more than 125 miles per hour pushing a storm surge. The wind and water overwhelmed the local hurricane defenses: levees built to withstand 13 feet of water were overwhelmed by more than 17 feet of surge, damaging levees and scattering homes and boats across the thinly populated parish like toys.

As the hurricane moved across Lake Borgne to the east, the effect was quite different: the second storm sent strong waves and a surge estimated at 18 feet or more back across the lake to the levees bordering St. Bernard Parish. The long levees there had been designed to handle 13 feet of water. The assault washed over Chalmette and other communities with floodwaters exceeding 14 feet in some areas. A similar pounding took out the southeastern levee of the development known as New Orleans East.

In its third incarnation, the storm sent the water up a funnel formed at the northwest corner of Lake Borgne and into the city's Inner Harbor Navigation Canal, where the water rose and churned with exceptional force, said Hassan Mashriqui, a researcher with the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center. Those waters shattered flood walls in several places and destroyed the city's Lower Ninth Ward.

As the storm pushed into Mississippi, it sent a final surge toward New Orleans across Lake Pontchartrain, north of the city. As the water stacked up against the south shore of the lake, it rose against the walls of the three main drainage canals that run from the center of the city. Though the surge was weaker than the others and the water did not reach the tops of the flood walls, the 17th Street Canal and the London Avenue Canal suffered breaches that caused the lake's waters to spill into the center of the city.

Hey everybody, sorry I've been out for the past couple of weeks. My wife had a death in her family (her grandmother) and we were overseas for a trip we've been planning for some time now. I'm back, hopefully posting will get back to a normal clip.

Evacuee