The real answer for Louisiana's coastline

The real answer for Louisiana’s lost coastline
By: Ken LaRive081009

Acadiana has been lucky with hurricane damage. There are others just twenty miles south who were devastated.

Looking at maps only ten years ago will show the amazingly fast erosion of our Louisiana coastline once giving us protection.

Many ideas have come forward, from the use of Christmas Trees to dredging up bottom sand, but the trend continues unabated.

There is an answer, but few want to consider it.

Coastline is maintained by sediment, mostly form the Mississippi River. Naturally, the Mississippi river changes course every few hundred years or so, diverting to the Atchafalaya.

A topical map indicates that water level is much shallower at the base of the Atchafalaya, and drops off sharply at the base of the Mississippi. With the Mississippi redirected, a good portion of the basin was washed away, quickly building and maintaining marshland, our primary protection from storm serge. After time, sediment built up to a critical point, and the Mississippi diverted back, as it has for millions of years.

The building of levies and inland canals inhibit the free movement of sediment too, showing another incompetent decision.

The answer is difficult to consider. Most of Morgan City would be washed away, and the port of New Orleans would be a quarter of a mile from what water was left, if any.

A lot of very expensive studies have formulated many scenarios, but this idea is hardly mentioned.

Another, post Katrina feasibility study, as most will agree, must weigh cost as the primary consideration, as hurricane damage is now approaching the price of a new port, and the loss of a major town.

Whatever the decision, it would indeed be an expensive proposition, and it is one that grows more serious as it is set aside.

Acadiana Tea Party July the 4th, 2009

The Acadiana Tea Party in a banana republic
BY: Ken LaRive

In 101 degree heat, several hundred concerned citizens came and went for four hours, silencing summer locusts with speeches of questionable idealism like individual responsibility.

A movie was shown that gave historical significance to the event, and children in period costume said Yes sir!” as they open doors. Their laughter gave the gathering a glow of sensitive servility. How civilized.

All opinions were tolerated, including several young Communist students with homemade signs like “Power to the People,” next to a hammer and sickle. An old man with a veterans ball cap for WW2 service said quietly, “God bless you.” But they could only stare a collective blank, not understanding the significance.

Men took off their hats for the prayer, the singing of the Star Spangled Banner and the Pledge of Allegiance... Several were crying, and it was evident that few wondered why.

A father picked up one of his children during the pledge, and he put his head on his father’s shoulder with a hug. His other three stood at attention, put their hands to their hearts, and looked down with reverence during the prayer... Every trace of the event was picked up and not one tax dollar used...
Some overt pragmatist might observe how futile it might seem, to stop fascism by a child waving a flag, and a parent who teaches them love, respect, and reverence. Although one might speculate the realistic ability to stop a government ignoring our constitution, inscribing us in into the slavery of dept, and the further loss of liberty, would bend to the waving’s of a child with hope.

Indeed, America is a country built on hard work and the powerful elements of faith and hope, concepts rekindled from the ashes of our new banana republic.

Communists thoughts were tolerated...

Happy 4th of July America!!!

California: The National Petri Dish

Posted July 2nd, 2009 at 5.38pm in Energy and Environment, Enterprise and Free Markets, Entitlements.

Supposedly, trends start in California and then spread to the rest of the country, a notion that seems to be confirmed by the latest economic news. In May, California’s unemployment rate hit 11.5 percent—the highest it has been since 1941. This morning we learn that unemployment for the entire country hit 9.5 percent in June—the highest rate in 26 years.

Will the country close the economic-death-spiral gap with California? Very possibly it will, if the federal government continues to follow California’s example of crushing its economy with ever-increasing government spending, taxing, and regulating.

The latest from California is that state lawmakers cannot reach agreement on a new budget for the fiscal year which began on July 1. That failure prompted Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare a state of fiscal emergency and to order a third furlough day for state employees. The state’s comptroller is now preparing to send IOUs to 28,000 California taxpayers who are owed refunds. Central to the budget impasse is the problem of closing a budget deficit that by latest estimates has grown to $26.3 billion. Some experts think California’s deficit will top $40 billion next year. Because of these budget maladies, Standard & Poors has put the state on notice for a lowering of its credit rating, which is already the worst in the nation (tied with Louisiana). California has the fourth highest foreclosure rate in the country. Of the cities with unemployment rates exceeding 15 percent, nearly half are in California. Continue reading…