Mr Obama and Mr GO

The Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet Canal (Mr. Go) is a 76 mi (122 km) channel constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers in response to pressure from Chevron and in part paid for by Chevron  that provided a shorter route between the Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans inner harbor for oil tankers.  In 2005, the MR-GO channeled hurricane Katrina's storm surge into the 9th ward contributing significantly to the failure of the levies. 

Before the hurricane it was called  the Hurricane Highway. Three months before Katrina, Hassan Mashriqui, a storm surge expert at Louisiana State Univ Hurricane Center, called MR-GO a "critical and fundamental flaw" in the Corps' hurricane defenses.  Prior to Katrina environmentalists and others, including voters in St. Bernard Parish whom the channel was intended to help, called for its closure. When Katrina hit - and by the way it actually didn't hit New Orleans directly - the damage and loss of life was caused by the storm surge - not the wind and rain. Scientists now believe that the channel dramatically increased the storm surge, creating a funnel effect that contributed to the scouring that undermined the levees and flood-walls along the Gulf Outlet, the Intracoastal Waterway, and the Industrial Canal. Most have accepted the destructive contribution of Mr-GO to the disaster and it has since been closed to maritime shipping - and a permanent storm surge barrier is being built within the channel.

Despite knowing about the dangers of MR-GO for years, and despite knowing that most feel it caused a great deal of the damage and loss of life with Katrina, the Federal government, lead originally by George Bush, refuses to accept any blame or responsibility for the excessive damage caused by the channel. Since it was entirley an act of God the federal government has no responsibility to compensate loss. 

This was challenged in federal court in a law suit brought by the people of New Orleans against George Bush, the federal government and the Corps of Engineers. The judge who heard the case agreed with the people of New Orleans in a decisive, historic decision.

Bush resisted and appealed. Apparently it wasn't enough that he delayed emergency aid to the primarily poor democratic black victims of Katrina for days despite the floating bodies and cries for help  - a true international disgrace.

And now President Obama, despite overwhelming evidence of the Federal Government's and the Corps of Engineers' poor planning and lack of response to repeated warnings as to the damage that Mr-Go was causing to the protective marsh lands surrounding New Orleans prior to Katrina and to the overwhelming evidence that Mr-Go dramatically increased the severity of the damage and  loss of life caused by Katrina - despite all of this - Obama  has chosen to take up Bush's fight and is appealing the ruling. Obama doesn't want the Federal government to accept any responsibility for the Katrina disaster or to compensate the people of New Orleans  - the 9th ward especially - for the damage years of Federal government blunder and the channel caused. 

The picture below shows part of this channel. As others have pointed out, looks a lot like a rifle barrel pointed at New Orleans - heh?