Great Breaking News Out Of North Dakota Today--For Now

Yes, great news:

Army Corps of Engineers Denies Dakota Access Pipeline Route

Mind you, it's temporary. It's great news but it's temporary:

The Army Corps of Engineers has told the Oceti tribe that it will halt work on the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline in order to conduct an environmental impact study, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe announced.

We're just a bit over a month away from having a new president installed in the White House, of course, first.  Second, there's the fact that, actually, the president-elect has a financial interest in seeing the pipeline go forward.

Trump Owns Stake In Hotly Disputed 

$3.8 Billion Oil Pipeline

So, no surprise.

Trump stands with Big Oil, backs the Dakota Access pipeline

So sure, it's a win for today. It's good news. I just don't think it's permanent. I expect this pipeline will go forward.

That flooding in Northwest Missouri?

There's more than a few people in Northwest Missouri--and I'll bet the surrounding area--that think that flooding that's happening around there is, at least in part, due to the mishandling of the Missouri River by the US Army Corps of Engineers. I reported here before that my own brother sent the head of the Corps a letter back in December saying, literally, "please, please" consider releasing at least some of the water up North this year because of record snowfalls--back in December of last year. They then got yet more snow in January and February, at least, but the Corps didn't open the dams until around the beginning of June this year. From an article in the Star today: In Missouri, presiding Holt County commissioner Mark Sitherwood said U.S. 159 is closed south of Big Lake because water is pouring over the road, and most of the west side of the community is underwater. "It's going through in one place that we know of and overtopped in numerous places and there is seepage everywhere," Sitherwood said. He said most people evacuated well in advance of the flooding. Those who stayed were told Saturday night that water was flowing into the area. A few people live in cabins that have been built up and decided to stay, Sitherwood said. "Everyone up here knows the routine," he said. The Big Lake area, where water has been high for the past couple weeks, has experienced major flooding in three of the last five years. But Sitherwood said this year promises to be much worse following weeks of high flows and increasing releases from the main stem dams in Montana and the Dakotas. "I know they wouldn't admit it, but this is a manmade event," said Sitherwood, echoing a sentiment common in the area that the Army Corps of Engineers is mismanaging the Missouri River. "Nobody is going to tell me it isn't. It is probably going to be historical." The commissioner said his own home is at risk. "Thank you Corps of Engineers," he said. The corps has said unusually heavy rains, not mismanagement, are to blame. Link to the original story: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/06/19/2960777/levees-in-northern-missouri-breached.html

New Orleans vs Martha's Vineyard: think about it

Seriously, let's think about this.

Everyone is comparing this President to the previous one and asking, again and again, "Is this Obama's Katrina?"

Let's make a better comparison.

It could have been made a few years ago, when Hurricane Katrina crashed into the Gulf and New Orleans but now that the BP oil well has been spewing its crude into the waters for a month, on top of the damage never repaired from said hurricane, let's ask some questions and compare what realistic differences there might have been, had either event happened to Martha's Vineyard instead of Louisiana and the Gulf.

Does anyone think, for a moment, that the Federal Government in general, and the White House in particular, would have sat by for 4 entire days, doing nothing if a category 5 hurricane like Katrina were barreling down on Martha's Vineyard, as the George W. Bush administration did?

Sure, they don't allow oil wells off the Vineyard because, hey, we definitely don't want to run the risk of having oil ruin all those rich, white people's estates but if they did allow them, how long do you think it would be until everything possible would be done and tried, to make sure this area weren't ecologically and environmentally ruined?

It's difficult to believe the response wouldn't be radically different, especially in the case of Hurricane Katrina but, really, in both cases.

And I'll tell you what initiated this whole thought process.

A fellow Facebook friend wrote the following on his page today:

"F*ck you, BP. F*ck you, Obama, and your passive BP five-week jack off. F*ck you, Landrieu. F*ck you, Jindal (especially you, you f*cking asshole prick). F*ck you, Army Corps of Engineering. F*ck you all for not having strict regulations to protect us from this sh*t since Valdez at the very least. F*ck you ALL.

Second entry:

"Quit killing my home. Quit killing the most important and unique culture in America. Quit killing my home, and the people who make a living there (and in other Gulf states). Quit killing my soul, you assholes."

"Quoting my favorite TV show right now, F*CK YOU, YOU F*CKING F*CKS!."

And his final entry:

"Sorry, I don't do political, but I am heart-broken and so frustratingly angry right now."

I reprint this not to be cute or crude or funny, by any means, but instead to show the anguish and pain and anger these people feel down there right now.

And who could blame them?

First Geo. W. Bush and the debacle that was Hurricane Katrina.

Now this.

Wouldn't you feel as though they were "doing this to you"? I know I would.

Horrible, neglected debacle, one after the next.

It's not right, by a long shot.

We owe these people a lot better than this.

And to all the Republicans and Libertarians out there who think we either need smaller government or virtually no government at all, when it comes to regulations and corporate oversight, I say nonsense, first, and this further proves you horribly, tragically wrong.

We need to make this the last tragic event we ignore or overlook because it's a less-affluent area of this country.

But especially New Orleans and the Gulf.