[lit-ideas] Re: Katrina
- From: Paul Stone <pas@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 02 Sep 2005 23:06:03 -0400
PAS: > The upshot of the storm was that it was going to flood a city that
> was plotted in a bowl, below sea level, at the mouth of one of the
> biggest rivers in the world, in a known HURRICANE area. The property
loss was
> inevitable.
A.A. It was not inevitable, not at all inevitable. Al Qaeda has to love
Bush. I'm serious.
Do you understand the power of water? Do you KNOW how much it weighs? Do
you know the wrath of a mile-wide river moving while swollen with
torrential rain water? People have become too comfortable with
'technology'. Before the levees broke, when there were just a few feet of
water in people's basements, they were complaining that 'the pumps are only
pumping an inch an hour. They have no CLUE how much that is. Do some very
simple calculations and calculate 20 square miles by 1 inch. Figure how
many gallons that is. Still underwhelmed? Still going to complain? Faced
with the possibility of going down hill, water WILL. The pressure of
several dozen feet of water is immense. When it's moving, it's increased
incredibly. How much do we need to spend on the levee? How 'secure' does a
city need to be? Woulda Coulda Shoulda. The facts are what they are. The
problem is that the city was NOT safe, could not possibly be safe, and was
in jeopardy because of this immense amount of rain that fell and ran off.
It is now under water.
People should have left. People didn't leave. People rely on technology and
can't cope. 2 feet of shit in the stair well? They can't even improvise how
to flush a toilet without pushing the button. That's pathetic. Flush
toilets are very, very simple, gravity governed mechanisms. You don't need
running water to flush. There was water everywhere. The survivors are
living in squalor after only 5 days. Doesn't this teach us a lesson about
how close we are teetering on anarchy? What is appalling is how helpless
people are really. Left to their own devices, most people can't think their
way out of a paper bag. Nobody took control? Of course not, they were
waiting for the government to. Unfortunately, the teet was dry.
paul
_________________
[insert pithy quote here]
Paul Stone
pas@xxxxxxxx
Leamington, ON. Canada
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