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“We have built a series of structures and walked away from them historically,” said Leonard Shabman, a water resources expert with the think tank Resources for the Future. “If you’ve got potholes in the road, people go out and fix them; that’s not the case with levees.”

Yeah, that’s right. Slowly, but surely the rest of the country is getting a clue.

New Orleans was first and not the last. It all started 40 years ago when the country decided we could afford massive military adventures overseas.

It’s a national problem, not a New Orleans failing.

More: Gaps in Aging Levees Leave Washington DC landmarks exposed

California…

It’s the home of more than 1 out of 10 Americans. All by itself, it’s one of the ten biggest economies in the world. It’s the source of much of America’s fresh produce.

And it has a fatal flaw that could render it largely inhabitable for three to five years: poorly built, badly maintained levees.

Part Three of a three-part series.

It will be no consolation to New Orleaneans, but the reality is that the levees around Sacramento, California are in worse condition than the ones in New Orleans ever were.

Here’s Part Two of the story:

There’s more. Click here for PART THREE: Earthquakes, Levees, and the Fate of California

New Orleans was worse than you think…and other US cities are at current risk of even greater catastrophes from…levee failures.

That’s the conclusion of group of respected civil engineers who have studied natural and engineering disasters (New Orleans was an engineering disaster) all over the world.

Here’s Part One of the two-part series.

There’s more. Click here for PART TWO: California’s levees are even worse

Want to look up the status of the New Orleans levee system?

It used to be as easy as contacting the Corps local librarian. Now all the records have been removed to a warehouse and the public no longer has access to them.

Is this one of the Corp’s post-Katrina improvements?

The original

From Coney Island’s 2008 Mermaid Parade

Here Come the Girls” was written and produced by Allen Toussaint. The Meters provided the funk.

From New Orleans to the UK to New York…

How often has the arc of popular culture traveled this way?

For example, did you know that the first song John Lennon ever learned to play on the guitar was Fats Domino’s “Ain’t That a Shame.”

Here are the CORRECT lyrics to “Here Come the Girls”…

There’s lots of laughably bad transcriptions out there. This may be only place on the Internet you can get them straight.

“Here Come The Girls” Lyrics

Chorus
Here come the Girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls-Girls)
Here come the Girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls-Girls)

Looking so good, its a doggone shame, that they couldn’t all be mine.
Looking so pretty, its a doggone pity - Oh! - you’re looking so fine. (Fine)

Look out brother. Let me get one, a little closer to the one I love.
Anything better than the opposite sex they must have kept it up above.

Chorus
Here come the Girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls-Girls)
Here come the Girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls-Girls)

I can live without coffee, I can live without tea.
And I’m living without the honeybee.
Now the Philly Steak,
I can leave or take,
but the girls are part of me!

And oh water.
I don’t need no lemonade.
But to live without girls,
I can’t live without girls,
It’s like a man with a hole in his head.

Chorus
Here come the Girls!
Here come the Girls!
Here come the Girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls-Girls)
Here come the Girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls-Girls)

Going out of my head, (Hey!)
While the foxes do their thing, (Hoo-hoo-hoo!)
You make me feel so good inside,
I got to jump up and sing! (Aaah!)

Naa, naa, naa, naa!
Naa, naa, naa!
Naa, naa, naa, naa!
Naa-naa-nana-na!
Naa, naa, naa, naa!
Naa, naa-nana, na!
Naa, naa, naa, naa!
Naa-naa-nana-na!

OOOOoooooooOOOHH!
I’m not saying I can live on love alone.
OOOOoooooooOOOHH!
But that’s the only thing that turn me on.
OOOOoooooooOOOHH!
I was born to be free just once!
Freedom of choice,
Ring that bell,
Give all the girls to me!

Chorus
Here come the Girls!
(Girls, Girls, Girls!)
Here come the Girls!
(Girls, Girls, Girls!)
Here come the girls!
(OOOOOOOHHHH! waaaah!)
Here come the girls!
(I don’t need…no lemonade!)
Here come the girls!
(girls!)
Here come the girls!

Here come the girls!

Here come the girls!

(I’m taking about them fine foxes)

Here come the girls!

(Oooh they really turn me on)

Here come the girls

(Repeats until fade)

— All in all, a very apt anthem for the Mermaid Parade

The local New Orleans business magazine does an excellent job of covering social justice issues.

Obviously, it’s not the magazine’s “beat” but when it does cover the subject, it’s worth reading.

When the artist known as ReX faced tens of thousands of dollars in fines for posting positive public art, the magazine not only covered the story, but also covered his nemesis, a dangerous lunatic called the Gray Ghost who is paid by the city to essentially vandalize public property with a gray paint roll.

(If New Orleans didn’t exist, someone would have to make it up, the only problem being no one would ever believe it.)

This issue of New Orleans City Business covers a particularly vicious practice of local police, setting up homeless people for petty crimes and then charging them with felonies that could result in their imprisonment for up to a decade. Great journalism.

Click here to read the article

A panel and performance by legendary Creole Wild West Indian tribe.

Enjoy this close up. I happened to be at this event and this short video captures the highlights very well.

Talk about unexpected consequences.

I doubt anyone looking at new coverage of the 2005 flood would have bet that applications to New Orleans colleges and universities would rise, but that’s exactly what’s happening.

Not only are applications up, they’re up dramatically.

More here: USA Today article