I've not heard this RW NOLA levee meme metioned on DU...anyone else?

[greekspeak]

My father is spouting this one. I assume he got it from OxyRush or his ilk. All other news outlets are controlled by LIBRULS (AKA Hillary Clinton)

The Government has sent 210 BILLION dollars over the past 10 years to NOLA for the Corps of Engineers to fix levees there. BUT the state (read democrats) keeps taking it all, putting it in their general fund, and using it for other things. My father is the only source I have heard on this. Anyone else here of this or similar? Where does it come from? How have you debunked it?

[LisaM]

1. I would debunk it with hearty laughter

there is no way on earth it's true.

[greekspeak]

6. I DID laugh out loud at him. I'm just curious whence the drivel came

And what the more austere members of our DU family say about it.

[cry baby]

2. I have heard that on corporate media. No $$ amounts, but they

said that NO spent their $ on the convention center, stadium, and other things.

[pitohui]

5. what a total lie!

the superdome was built in the 70s -- the early 70s

the convention center is also v. old

none of this so-called money was diverted to build these structures in the last 10 yrs, we haven't had any new structures in freakin decades

do they really believe they won't get called on this

is everybody outside the state of louisiana a total idiot who will believe anything they're told w.out checking

cripes

[rocktivity]

3. The new levees were 80% completed before the funds were diverted

for a war based on what Bush knew was a lie. There would have been enough to fund both if he'd rolled back the tax cuts.

:headbang:
rocknation

[pitohui]

4. we just had 8 yrs of republican mike foster as guv, so yr dad can go blow

please point out that for the last ten years, almost all of that time, we had a REPUBLICAN governor, mike foster, only very recently did blanco take office

but if $210 billion were stolen (which i doubt) i'd check out mike foster's mansion at oaklawn first

[stillcool]

7. The Times Picayune....

has a plethora of articles on the un-funding of the levees.

[greekspeak]

8. By the state or the Feds?

?

[pitohui]

9. the feds EOM

.

[greekspeak]

10. In this case, dear old Dad thinks the feds gave Corps of Engineers money

to the State of Louisiana, which was put in a "general fund"--his name for a mythical liberal coin purse that democrats rob--and frittered away on nonsense, like Cadillacs for welfare queens.

[ikri]

11. $210 BILLION?

Point out to him that NASA only want $100 Billion over 10 years to go to the moon.

For $210 Billion you could have levees made from diamonds.

I expect that he means $210 Million, which is a hell of a difference. But to compare it to another large flood engineering project you could look at the Thames Barrier in London. That project took 8 years to complete at a cost of over £500 million (roughly $1.8 Billion after inflation & exchange rates are taken into consideration).

$210 Million is nowhere near enough money to actually protect a city, but it is just enough to give an impression that adequate flood protection is being developed.

[greekspeak]

13. I told him it must be 210 million but he insisted on billion

I know he got this from RW radio, where they will say anything that is insane. He never tells me who says these things. Just someone he heard on the radio.

[ikri]

15. Another comparative cost

The Manhattan Project that built the first nuclear bombs cost (in 1996 dollars) roughly $20 Billion. (source)

Expensive, but just 10% of what the NO flood protection cost if your father's radio is to be believed.

[salin]

12. I believe the last governor

who would have been in place for more years than the current one, who was elected one or two years ago, was a republican.

[greekspeak]

14. Foster...Mike Foster...I think this is the man's name

I may be wrong. But keep in mind that 90% of the ills in the world are Clinton's fault, no matter what the ill is.

Knowing my father, he thinks that the LA legislature is run by liberals who dump welfare checks in big piles for lazy black people.