We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2007 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/09/food_for_thought.html Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:18:27 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2008 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification A juxtaposition of things today offers food for thought. The Confederate Yankee has been doing some digging, and suggests that rebuilding New Orleans as it was is perhaps, long term, just not a good idea. Go read it. I'll wait. Okay, yer back. Now, what makes that interesting today is that in addition to the paean to the Coast Guard that Blake sent me yesterday, he also sent along the picture he took of Fort Knox, Maine, along with some history. Golly, John, but I hope you have broadband, as I'm sending several pictures with this. The first two are... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/09/food_for_thought.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/09/food_for_thought.html Mon, 19 Sep 2005 07:32:58 -0600 There's a certain amount of hubris in this topic. We like to think that we, humanity, can overcome nature(Jack London novels, Mary Shelly, etc). We like how things are and we believe we can keep them that way. Do we really have that ability? If we do should we be using it anyways as the planet isn't in a static equilibrium but instead a dynamic one? Questions that should be asked in regards to NOLA, IMHO: 1) What disparate impact would come from shutting down NOLA as an energy reception point(lots of LNG goes through there)? 2) How long would it take to build new infrastructure to move these energy stores around vice maintaining NOLA? 3) Are we collectively willing to pay the costs, both economic and emotional, of not rebuilding? Personally, I'd say we aren't. Oh, and because it's speak like a pirate day, Arrrrr. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/09/food_for_thought.html#comment-31987 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/09/food_for_thought.html#comment-31987 Mon, 19 Sep 2005 14:58:14 -0600 My - ya musta been there during Mardi Gras or something similar... we like to go when it *isn't* crowded. And a lot of that bad behavior *is* imported... kinda like Spring Break on South Padre or at Daytona. Obviously, mileage varies around here! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/09/food_for_thought.html#comment-31984 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/09/food_for_thought.html#comment-31984 Mon, 19 Sep 2005 12:59:40 -0600 One four day trip to NO was enough for me. No reason to build that cess pool back the way it was. Bring in 100 feet of fill dirt and then rebuild you might have something. Relocating 95% of the inhabitants to China wouldn't be a bad idea either! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/09/food_for_thought.html#comment-31983 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/09/food_for_thought.html#comment-31983 Mon, 19 Sep 2005 12:23:36 -0600 Roughly 2,500 people work at the Port of New Orleans. Another 80,000 work in the hospitality and tourism industry there. Add families for those workers and various support people and their families and it still doesn't doesn't add up to a city of a half million people. Restore New Orleans? Sure. But by no stretch of the imagination does restoring a viable New Orleans mean that New New Orleans will be a lot like Old New Orleans. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/09/food_for_thought.html#comment-31977 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/09/food_for_thought.html#comment-31977 Mon, 19 Sep 2005 09:27:31 -0600