Katrina Rant #3

[slamdunkpro]

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If government had not built the levees in the first place, and such river control had been left to the free market, would New Orleans even exist as we know it today? I doubt a free market would build a single monolithic levee system (a system in which any single failure dooms the entire area) around such a huge area.

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Good question

[ptmusic]

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I'm just curious if you really fully believe what you are stating.

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Yes

Everyone is responsible for their choices. (despite what the liberals say)

If I choose to live in Alaska, or California I have to expect the greater than normal possibility of an earthquake. If I choose to live in twister alley I have to live with tornados. The coast – hurricanes, the mountains – wildfires and/or volcanoes.

Everyone has to assess life’s risks. Living near the coast near a cliff = risk assessment. Building my house 100 feet from a collapsing eroding cliff where a major storm will send my house into the sea=foolish.

Just because I live near a highway doesn’t mean that I’m going to try to build a house in the middle of it

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What about children born into poor families who live in a high-risk area? Are they equally responsible for their "choices"?

BTW, I generally agree with your OP. I'm just shaking it up a bit....

-ptmusic

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Sorry, this is not an accurate view of the real world. If you read some of the other threads, you will see why. Maybe it makes sense in the idyllic world of a college campus, but real life is not idyllic.

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???

First, I'm looong out of college (20+ years)

Second, it's a very real world view - personal choice = personal responsibility. You make a choice you deal with the results.

Third, It’s a much more realistic attitude than “I’ll do what I please, if I screw up the government will save/protect/support me"

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Your view then is extremely simplistic for one who apparently has been in the "real world" for 20 years. You should know that there are many factors that go into where a person lives. For example, do you think that all of these poor people in New Orleans "choose" to live there? Or maybe it's the only place they know? And can live? And own property? And have something that remotely resembles a job/income?

On another note, you live in DC. DC is probably one of the biggest terrorist targets in the world today. Do you think it would be fair, if they set off a dirty bomb in DC, that we refuse to help you? Because you should have known that your city was at risk for a terrorist attack?

slamdunkpro, let me just add some thoughts to what niss has already started to say very well.

Imagine that I want to be a sitcom actor or a Hollywood movie executive, should I give this up because I'd be an idiot to live in the Los Angeles area. What if I want to work in the computer industry and a silicon valley company gives me an incredible offer to work for them. Am I an idiot for accepting that offer?

I believe that if out of the blue today, some developer decided to build a new community at the base of an active volcano then you could call anyone involved an idiot and personally responsible. But most dangerous places that people live have very long histories. So there are generations of people with a multitude of reasons for living there. To name just a few, wanting to be close to family members who already live there. Family businesses where your best job opportunities lie. Knowledge and love of an area. Unique cultural benefits. Geographical features that make things economically logical to be based there. As New Orleans is the gateway between the Mississippi river and shipping to the entire world, New Orleans holds such a practical position. Desirable weather and nature's beauty like many coastal towns enjoy. I'll stop now but I could go on.

So I hope you understand that once these cities get rolling for decades and decades, living choices become very complex. Maybe you go to a college in Texas and your roommate's father owns a shipping company out of New Orleans and you get a summer internship there and then after graduating get offered a job there. You'd be an idiot to accept, right?

Now that niss has pointed out the fact that you live in possibly the number one or two terrorist bullseye, I am confident that you have put a for sale or rent sign on wheverever you currently live and are packing your bags. By your logic, you'd have to be an "idiot" if you didn't.

[slamdunkpro]

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Your view then is extremely simplistic for one who apparently has been in the "real world" for 20 years.

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Sigh, 20+ years [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]. But in any case sometimes the truth is simple, however distasteful it may be.

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You should know that there are many factors that go into where a person lives.

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Yes, and like I posted earlier the individual has to weigh all those factors, make a choice and live with the results. No one is “trapped” anywhere.

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On another note, you live in DC. DC is probably one of the biggest terrorist targets in the world today.

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I live near DC. I would under no circumstances live in DC.

But forget terror target, for 40+ years I have lived at ground zero. If the war assessment were correct and the Soviets put 3 MRV’s on the pentagon (2 airburst, one ground) we’re in the blast radius. I’m aware of this and have chosen to remain – my choice. Believe me, I think about the terror attack possibilities every time I drive by the Pentagon or go down town. Again, I’m aware of the risk and accept it.

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Do you think it would be fair, if they set off a dirty bomb in DC, that we refuse to help you? Because you should have known that your city was at risk for a terrorist attack?

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And exactly where did I say that we should not help the hurricane survivors? In fact I stated “Should we help them – YES Should we review the plans for a major disaster since one of this scale has never hit the US? YES.”

[slamdunkpro]

Read my response to Niss

[MtSmalls]

Umm... No, still not right. The people of Amsterdam and most of Holland live and have lived under sea level far longer than New Orleans has been in place. They have levees and dikes that include pneumatic walls that can rise up for additional protection. These have been in place for more than three decades.