" Geologists say Washington DC is gradually sinking into the sea through a process known as “forebulge collapse.” This means the government of the United States is sitting on a waterbed that is heaving and could gradually collapse over the next century unless active preparations are put in place." The Standard Daily
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"Active preparation?" Can we take a vote? I suggest a country-wide referendum. This could be a grand chance to start over with a capital somewhere in central Missouri.
Marcus said he would support such a move. He mentioned it as he was leaving for Florida. pl
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forebulge
I can hear a call for a gigantic levee system to ring DC. The Corps of Engineers will suddenly become THE government agency to be in. The real contest will be around what to call it.
1) The Ring of Shame, 2) The Squirrel Trap, 3) HACS (Hot Air Containment System), 4) Old Reeky (with apologies to the Scots). The possibilities are endless.
Of course there will be an appropriate LSD (Levee System Defense) in the DoD. A gigantic fight will occur among the services for the lead role.
Last but not least, there will be the issue what territory the levees will protect and how to gerrymander Congressional districts around it.
Posted by: BabelFish | 30 July 2015 at 08:39 AM
The metaphorical implications of Washington sinking into the mud are too good to pass up.
Posted by: ex-PFC Chuck | 30 July 2015 at 09:10 AM
P.L. and ALL: The recorded high water mark for Potomac River flood levels was 1936. Marks reflecting 9 feet of areal flooding on the Ellipse on old canal houses on Constitution Avenue including one at 14th and Constitution.
But hey I vote for Kansas or Nebraska for relocation of the Seat of Government.
Posted by: William R. Cumming | 30 July 2015 at 09:16 AM
Florida? Tell him to wear a hat. Mandrils don't look sweaty, so how do they thermoregulate? You don't find any of the furrier primates or their remains in high latitude regions. Wonder why.
Posted by: rjj | 30 July 2015 at 09:17 AM
Move the capital to the Oklahoma panhandle in temporary housing and periodically we would get a new government.
Posted by: Lars | 30 July 2015 at 09:34 AM
World's last standing superpower having forebulge collapse anxieties explains a lot. Hope it's irony -- one of Clio's twinkly pranks, and not a hoax.
Posted by: rjj | 30 July 2015 at 09:46 AM
Col: St. Louis is actually too nice. I suggest we move the Capitol to a town so remote that the families of retired politicians (read: lobbyists) will refuse to live there!
Posted by: Matthew | 30 July 2015 at 10:04 AM
" Geologists say Washington DC is gradually sinking into the sea through a process known as “forebulge collapse.”
That calls for a pun contest, or at least a massive government package.
Posted by: jr786 | 30 July 2015 at 10:17 AM
Col.,
How about Des Moines, IA as a new Capital? Smack in the middle of flyover country. Nice supply of beef rather than all that bull. Quite safe from all ISIS types - and lobbyists too. Hopefully Marcus can take a little float down the Ichetucknee or a journey through Juniper Springs (keep a weather eye out for gators). Lido Key ought to be nice too, not touristy this time of year. Off shore fishing should be good, too.
Posted by: Fred | 30 July 2015 at 10:24 AM
I'm sure Barry Goldwater would be thrilled with this development. ;-p
Posted by: steve | 30 July 2015 at 10:38 AM
Perhaps Colonel, the birds have come home to roost for one of our Republic's original back room deals. You will recall that the site for our nations capitol (located on a swamp) was brokered by James Madison, where Mr. Jefferson agreed to withhold his anti-federalist objections to the ratification of the Constitution in exchange for the new capitol being located in the South. Pennsylvania may get the last laugh.
Posted by: Old Gun Pilot | 30 July 2015 at 10:44 AM
Antediluvian policies in a bubble from Atlantis. What's to change?
Posted by: Imagine | 30 July 2015 at 11:26 AM
I'm sure we could hand over some real estate on the Arctic Circle for the new capitol. They already think they're on top of the world anyhow, why not confirm their biases?
Posted by: Medicine Man | 30 July 2015 at 01:18 PM
Barnum & Bailey used a train to move their circus around around. So why not the D.C. circus? It would certainly change the definition of a "central" government!
Posted by: Richard Armstrong | 30 July 2015 at 02:13 PM
...“forebulge collapse.” This means the government of the United States is sitting on a waterbed that is heaving...
Oh, that kind of heaving mass. For a minute I thought they were talking about Congress.
Posted by: Swami Bhut Jolokia | 30 July 2015 at 03:02 PM
How about Baghdad? We broke it, so we own it.
Posted by: Swami Bhut Jolokia | 30 July 2015 at 03:03 PM
How about FEMA trailers? That'll be entertaining, to say the least. Especially with the Tea Partiers.
Posted by: Swami Bhut Jolokia | 30 July 2015 at 03:04 PM
If this is actually happening, I hope we can carefully dismantle all the important buildings and museums and rebuild them high above any possible high water mark, much as was done with the Temple of Ramses at Abu Simbel in anticipation of Aswan High Dam.
Posted by: different clue | 30 July 2015 at 03:07 PM
If FB is for-real, what sort of pressure would it take to induce CorpsMedia "news" divisions to address it as a matter of public interest: a letter writing, phone, and email campaign of unquestionably earnest expressions of concern ??
Anybody read The Henry Root Letters?
http://www.thehenryroot.com/images/letter1.jpg
Posted by: uwa | 30 July 2015 at 03:33 PM
Exchange your politicians for dutch ones. They will still sink, along with Holland, yes, but Washington will get high very fast.
Posted by: Anonymous | 30 July 2015 at 08:19 PM
Washington DC has a way to go before we see a fundament of Borgistas fording Pennsylvania Avenue in hip wagers, but some of the Bay islands are in a bad way. Take a look at Tangier Island on Google Maps. With forebulge collapse, rising sea levels and 20 foot seas from hurricanes, that community of watermen are, quite literally, close to sucking bilge water.
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 30 July 2015 at 09:32 PM
They could move the capitol to Richmond.
Posted by: optimax | 31 July 2015 at 12:17 AM
Arguably the capitol should be chosen at random every year from a list of US towns and cities. Hell, go one better, there's no real need for a single physical capitol, communication technology being what it is. You could put the Senate in one city every six years, the House in another every two, the supreme court in a third let's say every three, and the presidents residence at a random place for every term.
I'm not just being flippant. I've often thought that a mobile government would be worthwhile, as it makes life harder for modern day courtiers, and makes it it harder for a "bubble" to form insulating the government from day to day life. Having the supreme court hand down judgments from a church basement in Mankato, Minnesota or having the Senate deliberate in jerry-rigged accommodations in Roswell, Georgia would do wonders for both Republican spirit and weeding out people in more in love with being somebody in a city with lots of important marble buildings than public service.
Posted by: Grimgrin | 31 July 2015 at 05:07 AM
I like that idea, but also think Allegany County MD or West Virginia, with their [memento mori] steep grades, deep snow, and vistas could be more wholesome locations for what is nothing more than a bigged up company town.
Posted by: rjj | 31 July 2015 at 08:16 AM
Forget the foregoing - republican romaniticism. To reflect what we have become build a fiberglass facsimile of DC in 'Vegas [n.b.] and move the whole lot out there.
Posted by: rjj | 31 July 2015 at 08:27 AM