Jeff,
The story is bogus and Turner is nuts.
Agreed. Turner is not just nuts - but a racist bigot. Definitely Klan material.
Isn't it convenient that the only piece of evidence has been lost!
The only reason that this story has the least bit of believability is the *explosions,* which apparently were heard by many PLUS something very curious.... as in meme-curious.
The old-meme, which is a "dike-break meme" is possibly reverberating now, and is almost diabolical.... It all goes back to allegations about two previous hurricanes and levee breaks and explosions and flooding in black neighborhoods.
This first information is in a book by John Barry entitled "Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and how it Changed America," which apparently has become heavily in demand after Katrina.
But the levees were also "intentionally" broken after Hurricane Betsy struck New Orleans in 1965, admittedly with less of an impact.
The tactic of breaking levees is not uncommon. Engineers today actually punched holes in several levees in parts of New Orleans where flood levels were higher than the water in drainage canals leading to Pontchartrain, in order to let water flow out. But the explosions?
There were numerous reports of explosions heard in this part of New Orleans. Officials say that they were transformers blowing up. Logical and expected *after* a break. It is all in the timing. There are claims that 25 "ear-witnesses" cited explosions immediately before the levee breach. But in these situations - "immediately before" and "immediately after" can be confusing if your are blocks away because the water moves much slower than the sound.
First hand reports are now appearing in many web blogs. Although these are obviously not authoritative sources of information, it is interesting to note how many local people are reporting this.
Cruel irony/coincidence - or meme-remembrance - or real sabotage...? Kind of reminds you of the meme-persistence of another more famous flood, doesn't it?
