Law protects government over broken levees

I used to think that if the government screws up and someone gets injured or killed as a result - like if Skylab had killed anyone - the victim or their family has the right to sue. But it's not always so.

A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can't be sued because a levee in New Orleans broke during Hurricane Katrina, which contributed to flooding the city. That's because there's this old law called the Flood Control Act of 1928, which says the federal government is immune from legal action when levees burst.

I think the breach in the levee was nothing short of deliberate. I believe the levee was neglected by somebody in the government before the hurricane just so parts of the city that were near it would have to be abandoned if there was ever a flood, and that this lack of care caused it to break. I firmly believe this is so. Whether it was intentional or accidental, why should there be a law to let the government dodge responsibility for its own incompetence? That's not what I call accountability. If someone in the government wanted to deliberately break the levee, there was nobody stopping them, because they couldn't be sued.

This law is a remnant of the robber baron days of the 1920s. Congress needs to step in and seal the cracks in this law.

(Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jVbvfaTjQtevryQeGj7a0XOOwGlQD8UGHBL81)