If you want to read a stupid opinion column, have a look at "Politics Aside, New Orleans A Lost Cause" in the Hartford, Connecticut Courant? These are the folks who continue to send Joe Leiberman to the US Senate, so why am I surprised?
The brutal geological reality is that people of every color left New Orleans as climate-related refugees. I believe that the real reason New Orleans remains unfixed - without police and fire protection and with vacant hospitals - is because objective visionaries and smart money sees such rebuilding as a risky, if not wasteful war against nature.
When the polar ice caps melt a bit more and begin to flood the East Coast, I hope the columnist will be willing to write off Stamford, Bridgeport, and New Haven, CT, because rebuilding them will be "a risky, if not wasteful war against nature." Fair enough, Mr. Thorson, or should I say Professor Thorson? He's a professor of geology at the University of Connecticut's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Professor Thorson's recommendation?
My plan has only one point. That we not spend another dime on U.S. properties below sea level - and use that money instead to help sea-level refugees find safer homes elsewhere.
Perhaps Prof. Thorson should read this:
On the at-and-above list are most of the terra firma in the New Orleans neighborhoods of greater Carrollton, River Bend, Audubon/University, Uptown, the Garden District, Lower Garden District, Irish Channel, the French Quarter, Treme, Bayou St. John, the Marigny, Bywater, Holy Cross, Algiers Point, McDonogh, Lakeshore, Lake Vista, Lake Terrace and Lake Oaks. Add to that the Warehouse and Central Business districts, portions of the 6th and 7th wards, Central City and Mid-City as well as areas along Gentilly Boulevard and Chef Menteur Highway in eastern New Orleans and terrain along the Mississippi River in Algiers, City Park Avenue and the Fair Grounds area.
And this:
The lowest point in Connecticut is where the state borders Long Island Sound; sea level.
Hmmm. The whole coast of Connecticut borders on Long Island Sound, just at sea level. Worth protecting? Sounds a little risky and wasteful to me. When will the Connecticut sea-level refugees begin to leave, so the country won't have to waste money on them?
Pistolette from New Orleans had a few choice words for Professor Thorson:
damn yankees
Okay guys - everyone has to get over to the Hartford Courant website and gang up on this guy for being such an anti-rebuild nola pig...
"Politics Aside, New Orleans a Lost Cause"
It was such an insulting piece that I left the following biting comment...
If the Dutch felt the way you do about low-lying areas they'd have no country.
Funny, you guys never complained when federal engineers spent billions to force the Mississippi River route, and thereby bring goods to all you rich, condescending yankees. Plus, you think gas is expensive now? You couldn't afford it if we didn't keep sucking up the fumes in "cancer alley" for you overconsumptive ungrateful brats.
I live here - we have cops, firemen, and hospitals. True, they are understaffed and could use more help, but they are here! Get your facts straight.
I can't believe you compared this situation to some little Alaskan town with 200 people. MILLIONS live in the Mississippi Delta region. You are talking about asking millions of people/refugees to give up their homeland, people, and culture. America doesn't even ask the Palestinians to do that and we actively support the opposition! This is one of the most ignorant and insensitive things I've heard on this topic in a while. Would you ask Amsterdam, Venice, or even low-lying London to just abandon their cities because they are expensive to maintain?
No wonder most people in New Orleans want France to buy us back. With compatriots like you, who needs jihadis?
Posted by Pistolette at 8:32 AM
Thanks to Oyster at Your Right Hand Thief for the heads up.
We have a problem in this country in the low-lying coastal areas which are prone to bear the brunt of hurricanes. The area includes the coastlines of several states bordering on the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic.
However, global warming and melting ice caps, might eventually require mass migration away from highly populated areas which are not threatened by hurricanes often, but might well be under water as sea levels rise. So let's not fool ourselves that New Orleans is the only place that is vulnerable, and that the rest of the country should abandon it right now.
I read that if we lose the ice cover just on Greenland it'd raise sea level by what ? 20 ft ? That'd cover a good bit of coastal CT, too. Much less a good bit of FL and parts of the Gulf coast. And if we lose Greenland, a good deal of the Antarctic isn't far behind.
ReplyDeleteWe're looking at a massive refugee problem if we warm up that much...
But yeah, the Prof's article was condescending in that way only Yankees can be :P
The Courant has been unfit to read for over a decade; even the classifieds are awful. There are a couple of decent local papers like the New Haven Register or the New London Day; otherwise, most people read the NYT.
ReplyDeleteI may follow the link, just fer you.
I am embarrassed to say that I am a flat-lander CT Yankee native (living in Vermont) but this guy sounds like a bonafide bigot hiding behind a PhD. So, if I am condescending in that way only Yankees can be, mea culpa.
ReplyDeleteWe southerners, even David, understand that there are good people among the Yankees. We don't damn them all. You will notice that I said nothing about Yankees. I was quoting Pistolette. How's that for avoiding responsibility? I know too may admirable Yankees, like you, Caminante. Johnieb, you're a transplant, so you don't count.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, pistolette has nothing to do with pistols. It is a small individual loaf of French bread, suitable for stuffing or for a sandwich.
As for the blogger, Pistolette, she does, on occasion, verbally shoot from the hip, and good for her.
Grandmere Mimi, too many stupid people say too much about the little (or nothing) that they know!
ReplyDeleteI've been reading your past posts, trying to get to know you better. I especially enjoyed reading about your recovering homophobe status. I had a crash course in that when I learned my daughter AE was gay when she went away to college, even though I'd "vaguely" suspected.
I saw where your sister died of pancreatic cancer. My mother died of that in 1992, only 42 days after pancreatic cancer was diagnosed. Terrible disease.
Jan, pancreatic cancer is a bitch. Your mom's disease moved faster than my sister's. The end was really bad. I'm still not over losing her. She was my best friend, as well as my sister. I don't think I will ever get over it. I want to pick up the phone and call her on many a day.
ReplyDeleteI have thought about what my response would have been if one of my children had been gay or lesbian. I hope that I would have accepted them lovingly after learning of it. They would still have been my child. How could I not love them?
However, since you've read the story of my homophobia, you see why I can't say for sure how I would have reacted.
Wow. Picture me channeling Eileen... (Don't know if I can actually say that on your blog, Mimi. ;-)
ReplyDeleteMy beloved stepfather died of pancreatic cancer (liver and colon were involved as well). He was a lifelong smoker, and died a week to the day after his 54th birthday. That was in 1997, and I still miss him terribly. He was so excited about my son's birth---so ready to be a grandpa. My mom's new husband is very sweet, but they live nearly 5K miles across the Atlantic, and he never had kids, so he's just not that "into" them. Sigh.
Prayers for you, Mimi, and for your sister in Heaven. I'm about to go spend a week at the beach with my mother, and---as aggravating as she can be sometimes---I am going to remember how much you can miss someone when they are not there anymore.
Doxy, picturing you channeling Eileen is pushing the envelope on my dignified blog, but I'll let it pass this time.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry about your step-father. Pancreatic cancer is hard on everyone.
I think of my sister's two 1/2 year old grandaughter, whom she took such delight in, but who will have to rely on stories from family members for her memories.
Have a lovely time at the beach with you mother.
Doxy, I'm glad you're back! Mimi and Doxy, we're connected through our love for those beloved ones who died of pancreatic cancer. Bless them all.
ReplyDeleteThat's one Connecticut Yankee who should think twice about treading into the territory of a New Orleans Court -- Mardi Gras or not!
ReplyDeleteTobias, I'm pondering whether your comment is clever or in the "please leave the stage" category, despite your background as a seasoned thespian. Sometimes it's a fine line between the two. Perhaps I should get a second opinion.
ReplyDeleteMimi, I love your strong voice! And thanks for quoting Pistolette--she makes some undeniable points.
ReplyDeleteCynthia, thank you. I love Pistolette's name. I find that I often lust after other folks' noms de blog.
ReplyDeleteYes, Mimi's right, I wasn't dissing all Yankees. Some of you are quite decent, and you certainly can't help where you were born ;->
ReplyDeleteAnd then there's the vision of Doxy channeling Eileen.
That's. Just. Scary.
::runs and hides::