Paul, I didn't blog about it at the time, but California was quite worried about their own water-works after Katrina. That's one of the reasons I advocated in my blog that the country needs a national Advisory Committee on Levee Safety.

On the other hand, Florida still has the "it-can't-happen-here" mentality, which is really nutso because water-works royally messed up the Everglades. Some people don't live and learn.

>That's one of the reasons I advocated in my blog that the country needs a national Advisory Committee on Levee Safety.

S2,

I obviously have no clue who or what build the levees or when in Cali... But having said that, having ANOTHER levee break makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I suspect it will be investigated more toughly than it would have been 6 mos ago.

If it is a Corps levee (which is likely) then some people are going to start asking some questions.

I almost never agree with -another- Advisory Committee but somebody somewhere might want to take this more seriously. The thought that we could kill another thousand people (or more) ain't a good one.

(Unlike many people...) I'm waiting till we learn more about it. Right now it is troubling.

BTW- Since you are following this stuff, FoxNews seems to have the best coverage when I was watching. One of their guys lives out there and knows the situation. -P

Let 'em drink wine.

you suck. i live in napa. we're not all rich, and the whole place doesn't flood, just certain parts. and that levee didn't break, the water crested over the top, which has never happened before. also you don't get your grape juice from here, you'd have to look at the san joaquin valley for that. how sad for you that you have to be so critical of other's misfortunes just so you can wax pomposity over our misfortune. every geographical area has their downfalls! our valley is so beautiful and most of us are blue collars, not rich people. get your facts straight before you speak out of your uptight, pompous ass.

What part of Utopia do you live in? Never had a natural disaster where you live? You will. Maybe it won't hit you personally. But it will get someone in your family or circle of friends.

Natural disasters can happen anywhere. The folks that are flooded in Napa, for the most part, are NOT the rich people you think of when you picture Napa. They are the working class; and that is where they can afford to live, in this over-priced location. It is affordable, for one reason, because it is in the flood plain. Perhaps they are second or third generation Napans living where their family has always lived; and they can't afford to move anywhere else. FYI: a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house around here costs easily $650,000. Rent in a similar house can be over $2000 per month. Less near the river.

People stay where they are, in times like these, to protect what they have; what they work hard for. There were a lot of people out last night putting up sandbags; working hard to protect what they have.

Get over yourself. I hope that when it hits the fan for you, people around you are more compassionate than you.

Jim - thanks for backing up the rest of us napans! It's all so sad here right now, but the other thing they don't know is we Napkans band together and take care of each other. The rest of you should take a lesson from us! I hope you did okay.

Jim and Pat... They do have satire in Napa don't they?

>What part of Utopia do you live in? Never had a natural disaster where you live?

Yeah.... It's called Katrina.

Everything I've said about Napa has been said about New Orleans 15 times over. Perhaps now you know how silly those comments are when made about New Orleans.

Check what this is filed under guys.

Guys, Paul put this post under two categories, the second of which is not "saltire," which refers to a diagonal cross such as that on the Alabama state flag.

Missed it by that much.

[/Maxwell Smart]

Rather than spending another tax payer dollar protecting an area WE KNOW will flood, let's just abandon Napa Valley and move the people to higher ground.

Hey, as long as New Orleans is part of that deal, go right ahead.

Don't ya just love it when people fail to read the word "SATIRE" at the bottom of the piece?

Where do you live Mark?

Rather than spending another tax payer dollar protecting an area WE KNOW will flood, let's just abandon Napa Valley and move the people to higher ground.

I really don't care whether or not people in Napa Valley move to higher ground. I just don't want to subsidize the ones dumb enough to live in a 100 year flood plain.

I'm well aware this is satire, but I'm sorry, you're a fucking idiot. I live in Napa, and I'm dry - only parts of the valley are flooded (downtown napa and parts of the north valley). And, by the way, levees didn't break. It's called a flash flood... ya see... it rained 5-10 inches in different areas last night. Also, while the flooding has affected tourist areas, it has mainly screwed over lower and middle class residential areas.

The difference is that in a week Napa will be dry. Now, how long did it take for the flood waters to recede in New Orleans? Count me as one person who still says that we don't need to spend billions of dollars re-building a city that is a constant disaster waiting to happen.

we do see the word "satire", but we who have just gone through this flood fail to appreciate the satirical side of your comments. perhaps you fail to understand the human condition enough to have boundaries. while you can type your words under the guise of satire, it's patently obvious your underlying truth - you think we're all fatcats who are idiots for living where we live and you capitalized on our tragedy.

any way you look at it, your comments are inappropriate and insensitive.

Pat Paulsen had the good sense to grow his grapes in Sonoma, where folks could understand that his tactics of using outright lies, double talk and unfounded attacks in his presidential bids were indeed satire. Seems like there's at least two folks in Napa who still wouldn't get him either.

One of the most entertaining nights I spent as a fly on the wall was at the bar at Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen in St. Helena. The rich and wannabe rich were out in force and it was better than watching Falcon Crest. While Jim and Pat claim not to be in the same tax bracket, not many can afford the prices of homes or rent their unless they are, or lived there all their lives...

Very true, it is a satire, however it misses the mark. Satires are typically true to point and this is not. Yeah, maybe us "idiots" who live here should move, and maybe people shouldn't live on the coast, or for that matter in the gulf, or on hills, or anywhere else. With people like you... maybe we all should drown. But what's the fun in that. I like Napa, I liked waking up early this morning and walking two blocks to see Lincoln flooded... I like the beauty and awe of mother nature even when she's being a real bitc#. And if you think I'm an idiot for that, then I pity your in-ability to enjoy life good or bad. By the way, "grape juice" doesn't come by the gallon. But don't worry, I won't blame you for your stupidity... I'll just blame the mass media. Satire, I've written better satires on the toliet. I give your "Satire" two flushes down.

oh and by the way, you aren't "subsidizing us." we would have to be insured for floods for that, and most of us aren't technically in a flood plain - even though some of us got hit hard by a creek, not the river! but oh , you're being satirical - riiiiight. the bottom line is you guys who don't live here don't know jack about what you're saying.

Hmmm.

Personally what I think is really needed is a national water system. We've got a national power grid. National highway system. National rail network. So basically we can move just about anything anywhere *except* water unless it's in small tanker cars.

A system of regional reservoirs, cache basins and trunk pipes to connect local, state and regional water systems into a national network would cost billions of dollars to build but then it would save billions of dollars in use.

Isn't it ironic that some areas of America are literally drowning in water while other areas are begging for water? The single most important resource for growth, and yet the most difficult to obtain at times, is water.

Hmmm.

In case some of you visitors from Napa are unaware of this Paul has survived Katrina. I.e. he lives, lived?, in New Orleans. The reason why this is listed under "satire" is that the same stuff he wrote was written about people living in New Orleans.

It's, you know, ironicy and stuff.

i own my own place by myself, raised a son by myself, i work for a community based non-profit. but i don't hate on a whole class of people just because they're rich - who cares, really? i don't make much money yet i'm proud to have done it all by myself, and your satire disrespects my life.

underlying all the satircal comments is a common thread, getting off on other's misfortunes and having an avenue for slamming people who make more money than yourself. we are a unique valley whose upper class supports the programs that provide services to the less fortunate. leave us alone, move onto another target. we will never fit your profile for satire.

We already pay $4 a gallon, or more, for grape juice, without a levee break. So, what's your beef?

I suspect the point of this satire is that the nasty things said about Paul and NOLA folks post Katrina hurt - and unless you spoke out against such utterences then, you are subject to the jibes Paul has amazingly playfully set in your direction, oh Napa Valley omphalo-gazers. Your thin skin and disdain for the satire places you at more risk for ridicule. Beware.

>perhaps you fail to understand the human condition...

Pat you fucking idiot, I'm from New Orleans. Tell me all about the human condition.

>By the way, "grape juice" doesn't come by the gallon.

They must not have Sams and Costco in Napa?

Personally, I don't care where someone chooses to live. If someone wants to live on the top of Mt. St. Helens, go for it. Don't care.

Me? I'll live where hurricanes don't happen, earthquakes don't happen and tornadoes only happen every so often and, when they do, aren't very serious.

I don't think, however, that my tax dollars should pay for the priviledge of living on the South Florida coast or the flood plain of the Mississippi, etc. That's what charities are for. I'll donate my hard-earned money if given the chance but I don't see much point when it's taken from me forcefully to begin with.

Do I have a problem with paying taxes to finance our federal government? Nope. I do have a problem with being taxed for things that aren't the federal government's responsibility.

That being said, I hope everyone in storm-wrecked places across the country is doing okay.

Pat Pat Pat Pat I'll spell it out for you.

ReRead the piece... Every time you read Napa, replace it with "New Orleans." Every time you read "grapejuice" think gasoline.

Every time you read mountain think "water."

Then read all the comments including my previous comments and epadors at 8:55.

Now imagine you read all this crap after a your city was destroyed and 1000 people killed -not because of a natural diaster- but because the Corps of Engineers flooded your town.

Then when you've done all that, consider your next reply carefully.

even after you explain it to them, the Cali nuts don't get it. he is not making fun of you!!!!!! he is merely applying the same words used about N.O. to the Napa Valley to illustrate how insensitive and mean spirited they were when first said. man, California needs to get a clue!

and furthermore Brian... How the same words can be said about every region of the country at some point or another.

--Other than that you nailed it.

Pat, let us know when your hand gets sore slappin' your back congratulatin' yourself on such a good job you're doing working for a 'non-profit' and not hatin' the rich folk down in wine country, k? (Especially since they basically support the community non-profit who gives you your paycheck.) I do congratulate you on doing things yourself, that is an accomplishment lost in this day and age. It's always amusing to hear someone stating with pride that their paycheck is better than someone else's because they EARN it at a non-profit, rather than some small business or corporation. Leave your ego at the door, Pat. Really. You'll have more credibility when you're more humble. (And ya just might not be so thin-skinned when it comes to being disrespected, even when you weren't bein' disrespected in the first place...)

Obviously, Paul was not 'wax pomposity'...(?!? what is that anyways? English? Note: now that was being disrespectful) over the misfotunes of those in Napa.. he was using it as an allegory. Made specifically to those who criticized the intellectual capabilities of residents in NO after Katrina for living there in the first place. I figure since he lost his home, he can rag on those folk criticizing better than me, since he's lived thru it. I mean, he's not making fun of Lorenzo Lamas in Napa, is he? Since we all think everyone in Napa is like on Falcon Crest, ya know? Right.

Oh, btw, flood insurance lesson... you don't need to be in a flood plain to purchase it, and, since the program IS run by the federal govt, I'd say we ALL subsidize that program, no matter what state you reside in. Just because you have to purchase the flood policy to receive any benefits from it doesn't mean that it isn't being subsidized by the taxpayers by having the program in the first place...

I smell a troll...

Paul,
I started my post before you posted, but you did say it much more concisely... ;)

>I figure since he lost his home

I actually didn't lose my home... though I couldn't even try to put a number on how many people I call family and friends who did.

(huh- I never even thought about trying to count until just now.. dozens to be sure.)

I had a fair amount of damage but small potatoes compared to most.

BTW- In fairness to Pat... We are listed in google news. He probably had not heard of Wizbang before this afternoon and it is doubtful he has read my dozens of posts about Katrina much less my oft used satire.

That excuses him for the first round of comments.

After 7:48 pm he was on his own.

Paul

Keep posting this type of satire, I find it highly entertaining. Having lived through the '93 Mississippi River flood in St Louis & indured the same comments.

Of course, I live in the Desert now, what could possibly go wrong here! ;)

I think there are a few people that shouldn't be driving tonight posting on this thread.

>Of course, I live in the Desert now, what could possibly go wrong here! ;)

I dunno taz... I read Reno flooded too. ;-)