We often forget who really did in New Orleans: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, with its ridiculous projects like the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet ("Mr. Go"), which quite literally welcomed storm surges into the city. But you won't forget after reading Michael Grunwald's great feature in the latest New Republic. You need a subscription or something, but believe me, it's worth it. The article puts me in mind of lyrics by Mike West, a fantastic New Orleans singer songwriter whom I now suspect is displaced, in a song called "Corps of Engineers":
there's been a lot of talk about widening the lock baby can you tell me is it true they're gonna make the levee steeper so they can dig the canal deeper so i was told so i'm telling you they held a big meeting i didn't go but i been reading all about it, of course it's only hearsay some against some are for while the mayor he hems and haws and the corps of engineers have their way folks round here got the fear of god everybody say lawdy lawd there's only one thing we fear more that's the corps of engineers see the canal it must expand it's about supply and demand but it sounds like slight of hand to me there just ain't that many ships since the oil boom left it's slick and the port of new orleans begging on her knees they're gonna tear down the old bridge it'll do a lot of damage but it's all for the greater good part of a twelve year plan hell i'll be an old man before the dust settles in our neighborhood folks round here got the fear of god... now i would like an explanation of this word "mitigation" right now the way that it seems you put a man from his home then buy him a ticket to the super dome it's like beating your kid then buying him an ice cream i ain't a kid and i don't eat ice cream, much ©2000 Mike West
Lawdy lawd indeed. Read the Grunwald piece.
