more katrina fallout

the estimated cost of levee repairs for the entire region jumps [bugmenot login] from ~$3.5 billion to ~10 billion (found via lucianne.com)

governor blanco--who has demonstrated a slippery grasp of reality--feigns outrage that a complete rebuild won't occur. i say 'feign' because a complete rebuild would never really occur.

however simple cost-benefit analysis would indicate all those expenditures would not be warranted

To help state and local officials choose which areas might be protected by insurance-certified levees, Powell broke the four-parish New Orleans region into 10 areas and listed the populations and cost of building such levees.
In the analysis, three Plaquemines Parish sections, southeast of the city, look ripe for cost-cutting. Less than 2 percent of the area's population lives there, but it would cost nearly $2.9 billion to build certified levees.
By contrast, protecting Algiers, where 13 percent of the region's population lives, would cost $129 million.

meanwhile evacuees are finding a new home difficult to find, as the 'vibrant population' talk by local officials along with growing wariness of houstonians