Comments for Levees.Org

Comment on LeveesOrg founder Sandy Rosenthal to be panelist at Loyola Law Conference by Jack Worgan

Jack Worgan — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:03:49 +0000

My complaint with the Corp of Engineers is a little different that most. In the New Kingspoint section of Slidell,LA, the levees worked too well. The main complaint was that the levees were installed completely around our section with no way to let the water out. They needed to be at least 2 foot higher.

We had 4 1/2 feet of water in our homes for over 4 days. In the rest of Slidell, the water receded in twenty minutes. I spent the night on the second flood of a neighbors home.

If our water had receded in twenty minutes, I could have salvaged most of my furnature, paintings and other valuables.

I lost about $302,000.00 in antiques, paintings and electronic equipment. Mostly inherited. IRS will only let me deduct $3000.00 each year as a loss. At 82 now, I’ll never live long enough to recoup even a small part of my Corps of Engineers losses. Boy, I sure glad that they were here to help.

FEMA was nice enough to agree to an SBA loan. Unfortunately, it took a year to process the loan. To get my home repaired, I had to liquidate $60,000.00 of my IRA’s to get the repairs started. Good old Uncle Sam then made me pay taxes on this money. I was 77 at the time so there goes a good part of my retirement.

The government was throwing money around like confetti, but, none to people with good credit ratings. For my part and my Kingspoint neighbors, I feel that the Corps of Engineers owes us a lot.

Oh! And by the way, I was told that several of my neighbors tried to breach the levee to let the water out and were arrested. Four and a half days later, the Corps of Engineers decided to do the same thing. Seems less than brilliant to need 4 1/2 days to decide to pull the plug in the bath tub.

Comment on Award winning ‘home’ can now be viewed on TV or purchased by Editilla~New Orleans Ladder

Editilla~New Orleans Ladder — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:58:05 +0000

I am soooo proud of Levees.org and their connection to this beautiful film.
Playing the “Graceful Card”, Y’all aren’t saying it all here so I will.
After viewing the Nola premier of this masterpiece at the Levees.org Anniversary Soiree, Matt Faust told me to my face that Sandy Rosenthal had pushed him and encouraged him the whole way to entering the bigger film festivals and getting this fine piece to a wider audience. His words were (something to the effect of:) Levees.org showed him just how “Not Alone” we are no matter how much was taken away.

So Hats off to Matt,
and Big Thanks Youz to Levees.org!
To quote our fearless leader from the bottom of all her emails:
We Are Winning.

Comment on James Carville: Judgements validate that New Orleans flooding was more engineering failure than natural disaster by Editilla~New Orleans Ladder

Editilla~New Orleans Ladder — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:06:01 +0000

Here is a link to the Carville article:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/02/15/carville.new.orleans/#disqus_thread

Comment on James Carville: Judgements validate that New Orleans flooding was more engineering failure than natural disaster by Editilla~New Orleans Ladder

Editilla~New Orleans Ladder — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:38:59 +0000

(Damages paid to local governments and residents will exceed $1 billion.)

Mr Carville is incorrect here about the damages to plaintiffs.
[ In the short run, Duval's ruling could force the federal government to pay roughly $700,000 in damages to a small group of people and businesses.]
http://bestofneworleans.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A67710
Those are the Facts and hopefully Mr Carville can get them straight as the Federal Government wrestles with where OR NOT to settle with the plaintiff’s in MR-GO.
I understand that Mr Carville may be speaking of POTENTIAL settlements, but in the realm of Legal Negotiations it is imperative that we keep our facts straight and not stretch the truth.
There is nothing in the quoted statement above to distinguish this and no link to Carville’s article so I am only going on what you have posted here.

Comment on Study says displaced New Orleans flood victims did NOT cause crime spike by Gary

Gary — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:09:43 +0000

If it is not possible to sue the Federal Government, What can be read in that fact? There is no accountability, The Government can tell you that the actions they perform are for your own good and are done with your best interest at heart, but when something goes wrong all they can say is “We Are Sorry”. You can’t sue them, so therefore there are no penalties for the actions of our Government. People have to wake up to the fact that we have a Government out of control, ruled by the Money interest of big banks, Wall Street, and big corporations. Our politicians, from small Government to big Government are being corrupted by Money.

Comment on Katrina Myth passes 100,000 milestone by Gary

Gary — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:51:45 +0000

Our Government and the Politicians that run it are so corrupt that this may well be the shortest civilization to have ever occupied this earth.

Comment on Katrina Myth passes 100,000 milestone by Editilla~New Orleans Ladder

Editilla~New Orleans Ladder — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 01:04:14 +0000

Yay! Way to go!
We still out here on the back hand path.
Y’all keep up the good work!
Thanks youz

Comment on Ivor van Heerden announces suit against LSU by S. Rosenthal

S. Rosenthal — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 23:04:36 +0000

Dear Ms. Bailey,

Last April we held a rally and created a petition and collected thousands of signatures in support of Dr van Heerden. Right now the best thing you can do is join our mailing list. We will be routinely sending alerts as information is revealed during the course of this important lawsuit.

Comment on Ivor van Heerden announces suit against LSU by Donna Bailey

Donna Bailey — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:50:19 +0000

I need to know how I can add my voice to the travesty on Dr. Van Heerden being fired!. I’ve never seen a more passionate and dedicated advocate for fixing the problem of insufficient hurricane protection along the Gulf Coast.
I suggest contacting Spike Lee, who interviewed the Dr. for his documentary. Let’s see if Hollywood can put some muscle behind this protest!!!!
My daughter is a student at LOYNO, and I’ve long been a fan of the Dr’s., ever since we evacuated from Katrina’s path while at orientation for mu daughter’s college entrance. I live in Cleveland,Ohio
but pay close attention to issues in NOLA.

Comment on Ivor van Heerden files suit against LSU for wrongful termination by Jay Delhom

Jay Delhom — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:49:36 +0000

Earlier I said right to work when I should have said employment at will.
Louisiana is both, but the second is the one that allows and employer to dismiss an employee without cause or stating the cause as long as it does not conflict with federal or state laws against discrimination.

Ivor van Heerden, PhD, was not fired to my knowledge. His contract was simply not renewed. A contract worker is not automatically renewed unless his contract so specifies. However, the contract usually gives an assurance of a period of employment.

I do not know if his position was a tenure track position that either results in tenure or termination. Tenure is frequently not the end destination in such a track.

The LSU system has been forced to reduce many non tenured positions. It seems we have so much money that we give away tax credits to make movies, but lack money for universities and the Charity Hospital system.