Gustav's A-Comin

I read this AP article entitled "New Orleans Repeating Deadly Levee Mistakes."

Hey, that's news now? ...Nice of y'all to catch up.

Despite what this article purports, the people of New Orleans have not forgotten the Federal Flood of August 2005. Neither the hurricane that had fallen to a Cat-3 by the time it reached these eroded shores nor the shoddy post-Betsy engineering that caused the worst of the flooding. New Orleans has not forgotten how our hands were tied after Betsy, much as they are now.

There are many in New Orleans who refer not to Hurricane Katrina but to the Federal Flood, and rightfully so. The devastation that gripped New Orleans (not to mention the entire Gulf Coast) in the wake of the 2005 hurricanes was a direct result both of the Army Corps of Engineers' notoriously faulty design and of the avaricious contracts that funneled federal money...where? To whose pockets? Not to needy Gulf Coast folks, that's for sure. Gulf Coast in general, New Orleans in particular, didn't see any government money, any preventative help where we needed it. Not from any U.S. governing body. Certainly not from any of those so-called engineers whose job it is supposed to be to protect this inimitable city.

The Army Corps of Engineers has done more to ensure the absolute destruction of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast than any other single factor, except maybe their Big Oil Buddies. Between these two plutocratic helpmeets, virtually every scrap of natural storm-protection we possessed has been destroyed. We have lost almost all of our storm-barrier wetlands to oil company interests; we have lost, and continue to lose, the very land beneath us, thanks to the Corps' egotistical attempts to control the Mississippi River's natural ebbs and flows with what amounts to a Geological Straightjacket made of mud and concrete, hillocks and speedbumps.

We also know, from past experience, that our government is truly corrupt, from local to federal levels, and that these same governments are interested only in rewarding their wealthy and/or powerful compatriots with more money and/or power, often in the form of contracts and appointments awarded to the least qualified people for the job.

New Orleans knows what's happening. We know our prospects and odds. We know we're being set up. Again. We know that the rich people, the ruling bodies will be okay, and that the rest of us are just going to have to figure out how to survive. Again. We know that no one in office will listen to us. We know that the Corps is far more invested in salvaging its fragile ego than in being truly effective. And we know that, when it comes down to it, We the People are the ones who will bear the full weight of this staggeringly large burden.

We also know, again from long years' experience, that there's really nothing we can do to lessen these powerful elites' corruption, nor to increase their empathy, increase their devotion to making honorable decisions. We know our hands are tied, just as we know that theirs overflow with ill-gotten gains.

We also know that we are capable of saving ourselves. We gotta be. We would love to be a welcomed part of the USA, but, if the US insists on turning its back on us (indeed, on making things worse for us), then we must become self-sufficient. We must form community bonds amongst ourselves that will get us through the next imminent disaster, ideally without loss of life and with minimal suffering for all our residents. We are doing it now. We have been doing it for some time. You won't see us in the news too much, but we're here. Watchin out for each other. Blessin every other heart around the world that might be watchin out for us. Gustav, that depression baby hurricane, is on its way to meet us.

We'll see y'all on the other side.

*Even though I haven't lived in NOLA nearly long enough to pass myself off as local, I write here in the first person for its strength of perspective, and to remind y'all that these are real real people down here. Really real.