As Louisiana Sinks Slowly Into The Sea
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R) of Louisiana said Monday “there should probably be conditions” on any federal aid package to help California recover from the devastation wrought by apocalyptic wildfires.
Johnson criticized the response of California’s state government, claiming it amounted to dereliction of duty.
“Obviously, there has been water resource management, forest management, mistakes, all sorts of problems, and it does come down to leadership, and it appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty, and in many respects,” he said. “So, that’s something that has to be factored in.”
Mr. Speaker, as Arlo Guthrie once said to the sergeant, “you got a lot a damn gall” to talk about California’s water resource management, unspecified “problems,” and dereliction of duty.
Large portions of Louisiana parishes, particularly around New Orleans, obviously lie below sea level. Much of your state’s coastline is slowly sinking into the sea. Louisiana keeps its feet dry and protected from flooding by over 3,000 miles of levees, nearly three-quarters installed and maintained with federal tax dollars. (BTW, Californians contribute 14 times as much to the federal treasury each year as Louisiana.) Since 1932, Louisiana has lost “an area nearly twice the size of Rhode Island.” Presently, Louisiana and its state and local leaders lose 25-35 square miles of land each year to the sea.
Lost, Mr. Speaker. Perhaps you can explain that? If not now, the next time you ask for disaster assistance for your state. Or perhaps you’d prefer to ask your bronzered savior to extend his, um, staff, to keep the Gulf of America at bay.
Lack of self-awareness is also a conservative superpower.
Update: Not to put too fine a point on it.