In case anyone cares, the Mystery of the Mysterious Mardi Gras Mystery Pics has been solved…

Ok I know Brangelina moved in a while ago but living across the street just keeps getting better and better.

About a week ago, I am lying in bed, it’s 2am, I hear a gaggle of girls;

“You do it…” *giggles*
“No, you do it…” *giggles*

“BRAD!!” *giggles* (the patter of feet on sidewalk) “Oh, my God” *giggles*

then again at about 3:30am;
*giggles*
“I can’t believe I’m doing this” *giggles*

“BRAD!!!” *giggles* (feet hitting sidewalk as giggles fade)
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Yes, I think with the TP’s new coastline graphic we should all begin to come to grips with our future. That graphic is dead on, but doesn’t bring in to play the possibility that a few more mega canes can add to the depletion of the coast at an even faster rate. We need to start looking for a new place to take over as a whole. We can be like the lost tribe of Israel and caravan onward until we find a nice spot in Washington Parish to call home. Okay, everyone write down where you want to go and we’ll put it at a vote. I think it would cost less to move Jackson Square and the Cathedral brick by brick than to wait for the government to rebuild the wetlands. There is a crazy guy in Arizona who rebuilt London Bridge. Las Vegas built a replica of New York and the Eiffel Tower. What’s the difference? We can do the same thing.
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I’m no geologist or any other kind of scientist (Maitri has that title in this space), but anyone with an interest in the future of Southeast Louisiana needs to take a gander at the interactive graphic that accompanies the new Times-Picayune series on the state’s eroding coastline. It’s incredible.

Take whatever side you want in the discussions of global warming, about the Corps of Engineers, geophysical politics or whatever. This particular graphic is the most dramatic depiction of what has happened along the coast since levee construction began in 1932.

I gotta be honest — I forgot the president was in town today. It’s been six months since he’d been here last and, well, out of sight, out of mind. He never calls anymore anyway. He shows up for a one-nighter, gets us all giddy under the temporary lights in front of St. Louis Cathedral, then he’s gone again until he wants something. And we all know what that Something is. It’s what they all want. Just like a man.

Anyway, I’m tooling down Claiborne today and wondering WTF is it with all the cop cars. I mean, they’re freaking EVERYwhere. ‘Bout time they started cracking down on them outta-staters. A $125 ticket’ll show ‘em. But wait — naaaaah. It’s only the president. Here’s the story if you wanna get caught up.

There’s also plenty of discussion on several boards and blogs about the rebuke of the president’s visit. Take a gander if you haven’t had your daily bowl of Polarization Crisp. It’s good for you.
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Additional Photos

The line of cars stretched along Leake Ave. as far as the eye could see in both directions today as residents filed their individual forms to be included in a class action lawsuit filed by the Levee Law Group, which consists of fourteen different personal injury law firms.

I spoke to a few residents walking along the train tracks today to meet the deadline to file their forms, which proved much faster than filing via the drive-thru drop off set up by the Corps. I asked them what their expectations were of the lawsuit. Most said they had no idea how many years this would take to resolve. Three years? Twelve years? Nor did they really have any expectation of awards. Looking at the long line of cars, one woman from Gentilly (Robert E. Lee and St. Roch) said if they had to split it with thousands of people, it wasn’t liable to be much. She said she and her neighbor were filing as a matter of principle. She feels the lawsuit will a send a message to the politicians who made decisions about funding without regard to the real risks to residents and the Corps for not building levee systems to the proper standard.
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