Competence By Design

New York holds seemingly never-ending design contests (and legal battles) over how to memorialize those lost there on Sept. 11th, and how tall the new target, er, office building should be. Sen Jeff Sessions has weighed in on a preliminary, three-barrier design for the new fence at the Mexican border, and bidding has been opened to Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, so no one will be suspicious when Halliburton gets the primary contract. And yet, if you Google "New Orleans Levees Design Contest" in the news, you get nothing. And THAT's how seriously this nation is taking the idea of bringing back New Orleans.

We've all seen that snarky, but oh-so-telling email that's gone around, the one with the photos of the Thames barrier in England, the mid-ocean barrier that protects the Netherlands, and the new one (after a huge design contest) to protect Venice Italy from sinking, all very high-tech, demonstrating serious, nation-level investment, followed by the weed-covered dirt piles and collapsed concrete panels that were supposed to protect New Orleans.

So, now that Naigin's been re-elected, and the Republicans can't withhold support anymore just to try to swing an election, I think the mayor should announce a design contest. And just shame the damned Army Corps, and the whole Republican Monarchy, by demonstrating that the job CAN be done, as long as it's taken seriously, and done competently, neither of which is possible under the Republican theory of government.