"Mistakes Were Made"

[Lindsey]

In the 1830s, when all they had to figure with were paper and pencil and an early form of the slide rule, the US Army Corps of Engineers succeded in altering the course (http://riverweb.cet.uiuc.edu/ENVIRON/ENVIRO8.htm) of the Mississippi River. Today, with sophisticated computers to perform calculations and mapping tasks for them, the Corps can't even manage to draw a proper flood map (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2007/11/mistakes_made_in_new_orleans_f.php).

A system of flood gates and pumps built since Hurricane Katrina to help alleviate flooding in several New Orleans neighborhoods may not be as much help as authorities first said.

The Army Corps of Engineers released flood risk maps on a block-by-block basis on June 20, but didn't include some technical data, preventing independent assessments of the accuracy of the maps.

The maps showed that the improvements made to the city canals' drainage systems would reduce flooding during a major storm by about 5.5 feet in Lakeview and nearby neighborhoods. The maps were based on a storm that has the likelihood of occurring at least once in 100 years.

But in a report released Nov. 7, Corps scientists estimated that the actual benefit the system would provide would be just 6 inches.

Robert E. Lee would have eaten these guys for lunch.

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

Robert E. Lee would have eaten these guys for lunch.I suspect a lot of folks along the Gulf coast would be happy to do it today.

[Lindsey]

I suspect a lot of folks along the Gulf coast would be happy to do it today.
I'm sure you're right about that.

Geez Louise, these guys are supposed to be the cream of the engineering crop and they can't keep their plus and minus signs straight?

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

Geez Louise, these guys are supposed to be the cream of the engineering crop and they can't keep their plus and minus signs straight?Cream of the engineering crop? They work for the government, for cryin' out loud. If they were the cream of the engineering crop, they'd be out working for the Beltway bandits (contractors who earn kazillions of dollars under contracts with the government)!!

[ktinkel]

I'm sure you're right about that.

Geez Louise, these guys are supposed to be the cream of the engineering crop and they can't keep their plus and minus signs straight?I know nothing much about today’s Corps of Engineers (and the Katrina debacle gives me shivers), but they used to be competent. In my father’s time, they built the Grand Coulee Dam, the Tennessee Valley Authority system, the Alaska Highway, the DEW Line, and more. In fact, my father worked on all of those projects except the TVA.

The Corps is only as good as its bosses and funding agencies want it to be.

[Lindsey]

If they were the cream of the engineering crop, they'd be out working for the Beltway bandits (contractors who earn kazillions of dollars under contracts with the government)!!
Government contractors don't have to be good, they just have to be politically connected. So why should they pay top dollar for engineering talent?

Government contractors built police barracks in Iraq that had sewage coming through the ceiling (http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/06/africa/rebuild.php), remember?

--Lindsey

[Lindsey]

...they used to be competent. In my father’s time, they built the Grand Coulee Dam, the Tennessee Valley Authority system, the Alaska Highway, the DEW Line, and more.
Exactly!

The Corps is only as good as its bosses and funding agencies want it to be.
That, unfortunately, is absolutely true, and for 20 of the last 28 years, we've been governed by people who really don't want government to work, so they install incompetent cronies and starve agencies for funding while they shell out billions to private contractors without even trying to be sure the contractors fulfill their contracts.

--Lindsey