Dutch Planners, Architects to help New Orleans Live with Water

Maybe even thrive. (Image is a an actual photo of the street, below is a rendering of what could become a neighborhood water garden. Click to embiggen.) Since the Army Corps of Engineers can't (or won't) seem to get it right and the various Levee Boards are backing away from supporting, or even trusting what the Corps does or says anymore, this sounds like a very good idea to me. The Corps could learn plenty from the Dutch who have centuries of technological experience living and working around water. From today's Times Picayune:

A group of American and Dutch architects and urban planners will meet in New Orleans this week for a third session aimed at finding ways to better incorporate water into the city's effort to rebuild more safely after Katrina.

Dutch Dialogues 3 is meeting in tandem with the annual conference of the American Planning Association, and will announce its results at a public forum Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside hotel.

The participants will focus on a segment of the city stretching from the Lafitte Corridor abutting the French Quarter -- an abandoned railroad right-of-way that was once the site of a canal that connected the Quarter to Bayou St. John -- to the lakefront, including City Park and a section of Gentilly.

"New Orleans has a history of having had water in it and then moving away from the water," said David Waggonner III, a principal of Waggonner & Ball Architects of New Orleans.

But in the 20th and 21st centuries, New Orleanians shut itself from the water, hemming in the Mississippi River with levees and draining the backswamp with massive pumps and drainage canals that hid the water from view.

Redesigning the city with water

The planners hope to spur redesigns of sections of the city where waterways, urban wetlands and green, open areas can be used to store additional rainfall or where developed areas are redesigned to better hold rainwater through use of new absorbent street and sidewalk building materials or adoption of cisterns and other water-storage containers.

Planners from the Netherlands will share their knowledge of similar efforts adopted in that country, with a recognition that differences in New Orleans' geology and climate will require significant adjustments.

Former wetlands on which Gentilly and other suburban neighborhoods were built used to keep the city's geology buoyant, Waggonner said. Today, vast areas of the city have sunk to as much as 6 feet below sea level, the unintended result of those areas being drained by canals that suck up the water that had kept the soil elevated.

The trick, he said, is to find ways of reintroducing water into soils in ways to reduce subsidence, and in finding ways of transforming the canals into spaces attractive to the public.

But, will it ever come to pass?
More HERE.
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CNN: "Homosexuality — is it a problem in need of a cure?"

 I gave up on CNN over a year ago when their "to be fair" position began overworking the credibility of some guest "pundits" - IMHO.
Insulted?  You bet. Surprised? Not at all.
AfterElton. By Michael Jensen.

Tuesday morning CNN's Kyra Phillips ran a segment about the repeal of a homophobic and archaic California law (follow the link to Towleroad for video) requiring state health officials to seek cures for homosexuality.
Phillips started the segment by asking, "Homosexuality — is it a problem in need of a cure?" and then led a discussion which included "conversion therapy" expert Richard Cohen. For those not familiar with Cohen, he wrote the book Coming Out Straight which refers to homosexuality as a "same-sex attachment disorder." 
In 2001 Cohen was expelled from the American Counseling Association for violating it's ethics standards and he's been widely discredited for his findings and methods.
AfterElton.com contacted CNN to ask A) why Phillips would phrase her question in such an offensive way B) why they deemed it necessary to present both "sides" of whether or not gay people can be "cured" when it's been so widely discredited and C) why they deemed the discredited Cohen — whom they termed a sexual orientation "expert" — as someone qualified to speak about the subject.
Here is CNN's response:

By bringing this story to the fore, we engage various advocates from all sides. This story does not end here and CNN will continue to explore other views and positions.

Because this is a story that was simply demanding to be brought to the fore. 
It's 2010 and CNN expects me to seriously sit here and expect that this issue is really still up for debate? It certainly is in some quarters, but those are quarters that at this point respectable journalists should stay out of. 

Read the rest HERE.
More later.
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Eleanor Powell - Fascinatin' Rhythm.

Be still my heart. The best damned tap dancin' lady at MGM, or anywhere for that matter. In my opinion Ann Miller was all hair, attitude, and bitterness over not being part of the Freed unit.

I watched That's Entertainment 2 and 3 last night (yes, my life is a bit dull) and staging of this number was one of the segments. It revealed the behind the scenes operation involved in moving the bits of stage out of the way for the final dance.  Yeah, Fascinatin'!  And that's an understatement. Enjoy.

I'll be watching the original That's Entertainment this evening after supper.
And so it goes.
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ExxonMobil Pay Taxes? Fugetaboutit!

I'm looking at having to pay the IRS almost a thousand bucks and another 4 hundred to the state of Delaware, so this kind of story burns my biscuits, big time. I cut up and returned my Exxon credit card following their response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill.  They begged me to reconsider for years, even sending me another card a few times.

There is this from Forbes via Think Progress:

Last week, Forbes magazine published what the top U.S. corporations paid in taxes last year. “Most egregious,” Forbes notes, is General Electric, which “generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam. In fact, it recorded a tax benefit of $1.1 billion.” Big Oil giant Exxon Mobil, which last year reported a record $45.2 billion profit, paid the most taxes of any corporation, but none of it went to the IRS:

Exxon tries to limit the tax pain with the help of 20 wholly owned subsidiaries domiciled in the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands that (legally) shelter the cash flow from operations in the likes of Angola, Azerbaijan and Abu Dhabi. No wonder that of $15 billion in income taxes last year, Exxon paid none of it to Uncle Sam, and has tens of billions in earnings permanently reinvested overseas.

Mother Jones’ Adam Weinstein notes that, despite benefiting from corporate welfare in the U.S., Exxon complains about paying high taxes, claiming that it threatens energy innovation research. Pat Garofalo at the Wonk Room notes that big corporations’ tax shelter practices similar to Exxon’s shift a $100 billion annual tax burden onto U.S. taxpayers. In fact, in 2008, the Government Accountability Office found that “two out of every three United States corporations paid no federal income taxes from 1998 through 2005.”

Reinvested billions overseas?  Oh, that must be all the R & D they're doing for alternative solutions to the energy crisis.  Yeah, that's it.

There is something foul about corporations in this country.
More later.
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Weekend Weather - Easter Sunrise, and me.

It's been a while since writing a personal post, so here goes...

As per usual for a beach resort town, the weather-critters lied through their rotted teeth about the weekend forecast. Touting clear skies and highs in the 80s for Friday and Saturday which translated to sun, clouds, wind and highs in the high 50s - low 60s both days.

The restaurant was packed to bursting on both days with families who came to the beach hoping to kick-start their tans, but ended up eating and drinking with us, instead. I had up to a half-hour wait for lunch alone. Jeez!

Easter day was an absolute gem of a day and lived up to the most unusual accurate forecast - mid-70s, blue skies, light breeze and perfect for the Sunrise Service held annually on the beach. Another beautiful new beginning it was, too. The sun burst forth from low-lying clouds on the horizon, as if on cue from C.B DeMille, at the beginning of the final hymn.  There were tears. Yes, I am a sucker for fine stagecraft.

Each year the restaurant offers a special traditional Easter menu along side the regular ones. The Easter menu has become more popular over the years by families visiting for the weekend, getting their vacation places opened, and don't want the hassle of having to cook and clean up after themselves. There were 8 or 9 big parties yesterday (between 10 and 16 people in each) and many were repeat customers from previous years.

I was totally drained when I left work last evening, but it was a good kind of drained. Following the much-needed shift cocktail, I made my way back to the apartment where I enjoyed another (well-deserved) cocktail as I prepared supper.

The plan was to watch a bit of tee-vee, but I was too tired and opted instead for a shower and sleep.  Smart choice.

Woke today refreshed and ready to par-tay and grateful I was. Many folks took advantage of the glorious weather, choosing to stay at the beach one more day.  Lunch was a busy affair both in the dining room and at the bar. Not as chaotic as the weekend, but a lovely, steady stream of delightful characters trying to extend the good vibes for a few more hours - and we all know what it's like to want just a little more of a good time.  Especially after the horrid winter we've experienced here in the mid-Atlantic area.

Not at all wiped out tonight as I prep a festive turkey burger and spinach salad for supper, after a festive cocktail, of course. Cheers!

And so it goes.
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Peeps Caturday: The Easter Edition

More later.
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"Teabonics"- New Language of the Tea Party

From The Guardian.  Who else?

Exploring 'Teabonics', the exciting new variations on English spawned by the US Tea Party movement's sign language.

Along with the Tea Party has risen not only an incoherent political movement but exciting and refreshing variations on the English language. Now Flickr user Pargon has collected together many fine examples of "Teabonics", the curious pidgin that has emerged on the simple signs and crude posters handcrafted by the modern-day Poujadists:

    These are signs seen primarily at Tea Party Protests. They all feature "creative" spelling or grammar. This new dialect of the English language shall be known as "Teabonics."

This being the Guardian, we take a liberal view of the uses and abuses of English, and we'd be fools to pretend otherwise. There but for the grace of god, and so on. Obviously, signs like the one above – "Don't mortage my childs future" – are amusing enough for the mis-spelling. But signs such as these below, with one saying "Honk for English" and another next to it saying "No Amnety" – something to do with immigration – are even more delightful.

Love it, love it, love it!
Follow the link above and see more hilarious pictures, if you can stand it.

More later.

High School Sings Away Hateful Westboro Protesters

This link arrived via email and the video gave me much hope for our future.  Kids get it! Too bad we have to wait for these old hate-filled people to die off before everyone can be accepted for who they are.
From the YouTube site:

TheWorkingGroup — March 30, 2010 — When the Kansas hate group known as the Westboro Baptist Church announced they would picket Bay Area schools and Jewish institutions, students at Gunn High School decided they could not sit by quietly.

And so it goes.
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Catholic League Blowhard's Ad Points Fingers Away from Pope

This just makes no sense and Donahue knows it, but why not go ahead and at least attempt to confuse and refocus the issue. Even though it's a long shot, it's all he's got. Oh, and the "Radical Lawyer" phrase makes another appearance. As seen in the NYT:

Click to embiggen.
h/t J.M.G
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Tell Sarah Palin to Stop "Winking" at Violence

From CREDO:

For more than a year, dating back before the 2008 election, Sarah Palin and other Republican leaders have been "winking" at violent rhetoric from Tea Party extremists and other right-wing supporters.
They have pretended to be "shocked" when accused of helping stoke such fires, and yet, they have stood by, and even endorsed rallies featuring signs such as, "Obama's Plan: White Slavery," "The American Taxpayers are the Jews for Obama's Oven," and "Guns Tomorrow!" Some Republican House members actually applauded such protesters, even as they broke their way onto the floor of Congress.
And now, the chickens are coming home to roost, as these violent words metastasize into violent deeds. Multiple members of Congress have received death threats. Others have had windows of offices smashed. At least one received a package of white powder. 

Read the rest and sign the petition HERE.

More later. Sun's out!
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LOGO Channel Presents Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

That's right. If you have access to LOGO the series "BUMP" will highlight life in my beach town this Friday, April 2, 2010. Check your LOGO website for local broadcast time in your area.

It's airing at 7 pm EDT here and is all the talk this week. It's an hour program, and I'm interested to see what part of the "community" is covered.

Being known as the "Nation's Summer Capital" for many years meant that the GLBT community was low key for decades.  No more. Tune in if you feel the urge and let me know what you take away from the show. (Click the image to embiggen.)

Here is the website with links to all other broadcast times.  LOGO.

A Wiki history.

It's time for a festive cocktail - with olives - followed by a light supper and planning the errands for tomorrow.

And so it goes.
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Judge Tells Dad of Slain Soldier to Pay Court Costs of Westboro Crazies

What was this judge thinking when handing down this decision?

Lawyers for the father of a Marine from Maryland who died in Iraq and whose funeral was picketed by anti-gay protesters say a court has ordered him to pay the protesters' appeal costs.


Lawyers for Albert Snyder of York, Pa., also say he is struggling to come up with fees associated with filing a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court.


The high court agreed earlier this month to consider whether the protesters' message is protected by the First Amendment or limited by the competing privacy and religious rights of the mourners.


On Friday, Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ordered that Snyder pay costs associated with the Fred Phelps' appeal. Phelps is the leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, which conducted protests at Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder's funeral in 2006 in Westminster.


The funeral for Marine Lance Cpl. Snyder in Westminster was among many that have been picketed by members of the fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas. Westboro pastor Fred Phelps and other members have used the funeral protests to spread their belief that U.S. deaths in the Iraq war are punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.One of the signs at Snyder's funeral combined the U.S. Marine Corps motto with a slur against gay men.

 CLICK HERE to learn more about The Al Snyder Fund. It's set up to help him out financially.

Read the rest of the AP article HERE. 

You just can't make this stuff up. 

More later.

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