What a disaster in New Orleans. My dad who lives in East Texas is helping to take care of 73 of the evacuees, as are most of the people in the south. You realize how great America is when tragedy happens. America is the most generous country in the world.
While we are a great people and we do great things we have to be better prepared for natural and man made disasters.
This is not about partisan wrangling. I cant believe that Jesse Jackson and whatever that rappers name is would make this into a racial issue. Our fellow Americans are dead and hurting, this isnt a time for your stupid political agenda.
New Orleans is a city like no other; I spent a month there one weekend. I love the place. The only true Cajun culture and food is in New Orleans, and what a great culture it is.
We will rebuild. But we must be smart about it. It is inexcusable not to have had a better levee system. Believe it or not, money was there, it somehow didnt make it to the levees. This should have been overseen by some type of commission instead of left up to a local government. That lends itself to money not making it where it is supposed to.
After the devastating hurricane in Galveston, the city built a 17-foot high wall around the island. They also raised the island itself. After the fire in Chicago, the city started using fire retardant material. After the earthquake in California, bridges started being retrofitted.
We must fix New Orleans and Biloxi, Mobile, and Pensacola to where this doesnt happen again. I promise the cost is nominal compared to another Katrina.
There is so much in our country that we have ignored. You ask what? Thanks let me start.
The dams and dykes in northern California are not resistant to an earthquake of any size. Water in west Texas wouldnt survive a mild drought. And the energy grid in the northeast was never fixed; there just hasnt been another summer hot enough to cause a blackout.
Not to mention energy prices. What a waste of time we have had by not fixing our energy situation. I am not talking about global warming, I will let the tree huggers talk about that, but my solution would fix that as well.
In the 1970s Arab oil embargo, we took the Middle East out of the equation completely by oil conservation. Then when oil prices subsided we relaxed, that was not smart.
Now we are beholden to foreign oil more than ever. Twenty-six different countries sent us over 60 million barrels of oil to make sure oil prices didnt spike. That was great, but we caused our own problem.
Its a simple process. First, I would make mpg standards much higher. I am not against SUVs or pickups. I have a golf cart that goes 35 miles an hour; I love horse power as much as any man who has testosterone.
However, I would tell the automakers that you can make as much horsepower as you want, with a vehicle as big as you want as long as it gets 40 mpg. They will find a way, I assure you. They just have way too many lobbyists to let that happen. We are being run by special interest groups.
Then I would make sure that when any taxi, school bus, or public mass transit had to be replaced, it was replaced with a hydrogen (they do it in Europe), bio diesel (Willie Nelson bus has it), or ethanol 85 car (they are becoming common in Europe and the north). This would solve any global warming problems for the liberals, and would solve our energy problems for America.
The government cannot dictate to you and me what kind of vehicle to drive; they can dictate it to these people who work for them. This would put so much more money into research and would encourage the regular citizens to drive the same. It would also create an infrastructure needed for this alternative fuel.
If Iran sets up a blockade in its strait, it could block 15 million barrels of oil a day. This would make oil go over a $100 a barrel overnight. If Saudi Arabia has a terror attack on an oil field the same thing will happen.
For the sake of our great country we must take steps now to prevent this from happening to oil prices. Teddy Roosevelt was criticized for preserving so many national parks because people said we could never run out of resources. He is now considered a genius.
We must now look forward ourselves to a better future. The CEO of BP said we have only 40 years of proven oil reserves in the ground, not counting what will be discovered, but still it is a dire situation.
I am the furthest thing from an alarmist, but I am a realist.
Send some money to New Orleans this week, or whatever you can, those are our fellow citizens who need help.
While we are a great people and we do great things we have to be better prepared for natural and man made disasters.
This is not about partisan wrangling. I cant believe that Jesse Jackson and whatever that rappers name is would make this into a racial issue. Our fellow Americans are dead and hurting, this isnt a time for your stupid political agenda.
New Orleans is a city like no other; I spent a month there one weekend. I love the place. The only true Cajun culture and food is in New Orleans, and what a great culture it is.
We will rebuild. But we must be smart about it. It is inexcusable not to have had a better levee system. Believe it or not, money was there, it somehow didnt make it to the levees. This should have been overseen by some type of commission instead of left up to a local government. That lends itself to money not making it where it is supposed to.
After the devastating hurricane in Galveston, the city built a 17-foot high wall around the island. They also raised the island itself. After the fire in Chicago, the city started using fire retardant material. After the earthquake in California, bridges started being retrofitted.
We must fix New Orleans and Biloxi, Mobile, and Pensacola to where this doesnt happen again. I promise the cost is nominal compared to another Katrina.
There is so much in our country that we have ignored. You ask what? Thanks let me start.
The dams and dykes in northern California are not resistant to an earthquake of any size. Water in west Texas wouldnt survive a mild drought. And the energy grid in the northeast was never fixed; there just hasnt been another summer hot enough to cause a blackout.
Not to mention energy prices. What a waste of time we have had by not fixing our energy situation. I am not talking about global warming, I will let the tree huggers talk about that, but my solution would fix that as well.
In the 1970s Arab oil embargo, we took the Middle East out of the equation completely by oil conservation. Then when oil prices subsided we relaxed, that was not smart.
Now we are beholden to foreign oil more than ever. Twenty-six different countries sent us over 60 million barrels of oil to make sure oil prices didnt spike. That was great, but we caused our own problem.
Its a simple process. First, I would make mpg standards much higher. I am not against SUVs or pickups. I have a golf cart that goes 35 miles an hour; I love horse power as much as any man who has testosterone.
However, I would tell the automakers that you can make as much horsepower as you want, with a vehicle as big as you want as long as it gets 40 mpg. They will find a way, I assure you. They just have way too many lobbyists to let that happen. We are being run by special interest groups.
Then I would make sure that when any taxi, school bus, or public mass transit had to be replaced, it was replaced with a hydrogen (they do it in Europe), bio diesel (Willie Nelson bus has it), or ethanol 85 car (they are becoming common in Europe and the north). This would solve any global warming problems for the liberals, and would solve our energy problems for America.
The government cannot dictate to you and me what kind of vehicle to drive; they can dictate it to these people who work for them. This would put so much more money into research and would encourage the regular citizens to drive the same. It would also create an infrastructure needed for this alternative fuel.
If Iran sets up a blockade in its strait, it could block 15 million barrels of oil a day. This would make oil go over a $100 a barrel overnight. If Saudi Arabia has a terror attack on an oil field the same thing will happen.
For the sake of our great country we must take steps now to prevent this from happening to oil prices. Teddy Roosevelt was criticized for preserving so many national parks because people said we could never run out of resources. He is now considered a genius.
We must now look forward ourselves to a better future. The CEO of BP said we have only 40 years of proven oil reserves in the ground, not counting what will be discovered, but still it is a dire situation.
I am the furthest thing from an alarmist, but I am a realist.
Send some money to New Orleans this week, or whatever you can, those are our fellow citizens who need help.
indeed.
