John Cornyn Repudiates Gingrich And Limbaugh Comments About Sotomayor: "Obama is the greatest living example of a reverse racist, and now he's appointed one.'" ~ Rush Limbaugh, on the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to the supreme Court (link)
Blogger Note:
If Obama were even the slightest bit racist, New Orleans would have seen some hint of fairness toward the victims of levee failures. Instead, he sent DHS chief Napolitano.... todays version of Mike "Heckuva job Brownie" Brown.
Note to Napolitano:
If the levees were armored they would have been plenty high enough, you bozo!
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Ivor van Heerden cites policy lapses in Abita Springs talk - NOLA.com
Ivor van Heerden cites policy lapses in Abita Springs talk - NOLA.com
by Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune
Thursday May 28, 2009, 8:10 AM
Embattled public scientist Ivor van Heerden, who led investigations into Hurricane Katrina levee failures and whose forthcoming termination has been announced by LSU, spoke in Abita Springs on Wednesday night, reiterating his often repeated rallying cry that the Army Corps of Engineers failed in its duty to protect the New Orleans area.
He warned that scientists must be more integrated in public policy if future disasters are to be mitigated.
"What happened in New Orleans wasn't the natural disaster; the natural disaster was the trigger. The real disaster was the man-made structure, " van Heerden said. "If the levees hadn't failed, we wouldn't be talking about Katrina."
Van Heerden also briefly discussed his forthcoming dismissal, which the dean of the LSU's College of Engineering informed
by Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune
Thursday May 28, 2009, 8:10 AM
Embattled public scientist Ivor van Heerden, who led investigations into Hurricane Katrina levee failures and whose forthcoming termination has been announced by LSU, spoke in Abita Springs on Wednesday night, reiterating his often repeated rallying cry that the Army Corps of Engineers failed in its duty to protect the New Orleans area.
He warned that scientists must be more integrated in public policy if future disasters are to be mitigated.
"What happened in New Orleans wasn't the natural disaster; the natural disaster was the trigger. The real disaster was the man-made structure, " van Heerden said. "If the levees hadn't failed, we wouldn't be talking about Katrina."
Van Heerden also briefly discussed his forthcoming dismissal, which the dean of the LSU's College of Engineering informed.... (more...)
::SNIP::
Leading the state's independent Team Louisiana investigation into the 2005 storm surge, van Heerden gained national media attention in the months after Katrina because of his largely critical comments about the corps' levee and floodwall construction policies and designs.
His speech Wednesday revisited some of the research by Team Louisiana and additional research he and others, along with several Dutch researchers, had compiled for the MR-GO litigation, in which testimony ended this month.
U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval is expected to rule this summer on whether he agrees that the corps-designed shipping channel bears some responsibility for the catastrophic flooding during Katrina that inundated St. Bernard Parish, the Lower 9th Ward and parts of eastern New Orleans.
Van Heerden presented his research stating that the MR-GO channel had increased water conveyance into the city, in essence "inviting the enemy right into our home, " and that it created larger waves that destroyed many levee reaches early in the storm.
"Why did St. Bernard Parish flood so badly? Why did it get such high" water levels? van Heerden asked the audience. "We now see that waves chewed up the MR-GO levees."
"If there had been no MR-GO, 80 percent less water would have gotten into Greater New Orleans."
by Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune
Thursday May 28, 2009, 8:10 AM
Embattled public scientist Ivor van Heerden, who led investigations into Hurricane Katrina levee failures and whose forthcoming termination has been announced by LSU, spoke in Abita Springs on Wednesday night, reiterating his often repeated rallying cry that the Army Corps of Engineers failed in its duty to protect the New Orleans area.
He warned that scientists must be more integrated in public policy if future disasters are to be mitigated.
"What happened in New Orleans wasn't the natural disaster; the natural disaster was the trigger. The real disaster was the man-made structure, " van Heerden said. "If the levees hadn't failed, we wouldn't be talking about Katrina."
Van Heerden also briefly discussed his forthcoming dismissal, which the dean of the LSU's College of Engineering informed
by Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune
Thursday May 28, 2009, 8:10 AM
Embattled public scientist Ivor van Heerden, who led investigations into Hurricane Katrina levee failures and whose forthcoming termination has been announced by LSU, spoke in Abita Springs on Wednesday night, reiterating his often repeated rallying cry that the Army Corps of Engineers failed in its duty to protect the New Orleans area.
He warned that scientists must be more integrated in public policy if future disasters are to be mitigated.
"What happened in New Orleans wasn't the natural disaster; the natural disaster was the trigger. The real disaster was the man-made structure, " van Heerden said. "If the levees hadn't failed, we wouldn't be talking about Katrina."
Van Heerden also briefly discussed his forthcoming dismissal, which the dean of the LSU's College of Engineering informed.... (more...)
::SNIP::
Leading the state's independent Team Louisiana investigation into the 2005 storm surge, van Heerden gained national media attention in the months after Katrina because of his largely critical comments about the corps' levee and floodwall construction policies and designs.
His speech Wednesday revisited some of the research by Team Louisiana and additional research he and others, along with several Dutch researchers, had compiled for the MR-GO litigation, in which testimony ended this month.
U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval is expected to rule this summer on whether he agrees that the corps-designed shipping channel bears some responsibility for the catastrophic flooding during Katrina that inundated St. Bernard Parish, the Lower 9th Ward and parts of eastern New Orleans.
Van Heerden presented his research stating that the MR-GO channel had increased water conveyance into the city, in essence "inviting the enemy right into our home, " and that it created larger waves that destroyed many levee reaches early in the storm.
"Why did St. Bernard Parish flood so badly? Why did it get such high" water levels? van Heerden asked the audience. "We now see that waves chewed up the MR-GO levees."
"If there had been no MR-GO, 80 percent less water would have gotten into Greater New Orleans."
Friday, May 22, 2009
State Farm called Katrina a ‘water storm’ - Featured Story - SunHerald.com
State Farm Insurance sued Katrina
Rigsby and her sister, former adjuster Cori Rigsby, have accused State Farm of conspiring with two vendors to minimize what the company owed for wind damage by overcharging the federal government for water damage.
::snip::
She said State Farm told adjusters to “hit policy limits” on flood claims and tell policyholders an engineer would be sent out to determine whether State Farm owed money for wind damage.
Kerri Rigsby repeated previous allegations that State Farm claims manager Alexis “Lecky” King ordered reports changed if they failed to conclude that water was the cause of a policyholder’s damage. When too many reports reflected wind damage, Rigsby said, State Farm cancelled further reports en masse, even those for property that had already been inspected.
more....
Rigsby and her sister, former adjuster Cori Rigsby, have accused State Farm of conspiring with two vendors to minimize what the company owed for wind damage by overcharging the federal government for water damage.
::snip::
She said State Farm told adjusters to “hit policy limits” on flood claims and tell policyholders an engineer would be sent out to determine whether State Farm owed money for wind damage.
Kerri Rigsby repeated previous allegations that State Farm claims manager Alexis “Lecky” King ordered reports changed if they failed to conclude that water was the cause of a policyholder’s damage. When too many reports reflected wind damage, Rigsby said, State Farm cancelled further reports en masse, even those for property that had already been inspected.
more....
Monday, May 18, 2009
Landrieu Leads Second CODEL To Netherlands to Study Dutch Flood Protection
Landrieu Leads Second CODEL To Netherlands to Study Dutch Flood Protection * Levees.Org
Landrieu Leads Second CODEL To Netherlands to Study Dutch Flood Protection
Monday, May 18th, 2009
Senator Mary Landrieu, D-La., will this month lead the second Congressional Delegation to the Netherlands to study the Dutch integrated water management system. Louisiana and administration officials, including EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, will join Sen. Landrieu to study the world-class water management and flood protection system in the Netherlands, which shares many of Louisiana’s challenges in protecting populations and economic infrastructure below sea level.
In early 2006, Sen. Landrieu along with the Royal Netherlands Embassy led an initial Codel to the Netherlands. Since 2006, Louisiana has made progress in protecting coastal communities, including 100-year flood protection for the New Orleans region to be completed by 2011, but this trip will help the state assess remaining challenges. Sen. Landrieu will also explore policies, which may include innovative Dutch technologies and practices, that can reduce the persistent delays and cost overruns of Army Corps of Engineers projects.
More.....
Blogger Note:
AWESOME!!!
Landrieu Leads Second CODEL To Netherlands to Study Dutch Flood Protection
Monday, May 18th, 2009
Senator Mary Landrieu, D-La., will this month lead the second Congressional Delegation to the Netherlands to study the Dutch integrated water management system. Louisiana and administration officials, including EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, will join Sen. Landrieu to study the world-class water management and flood protection system in the Netherlands, which shares many of Louisiana’s challenges in protecting populations and economic infrastructure below sea level.
In early 2006, Sen. Landrieu along with the Royal Netherlands Embassy led an initial Codel to the Netherlands. Since 2006, Louisiana has made progress in protecting coastal communities, including 100-year flood protection for the New Orleans region to be completed by 2011, but this trip will help the state assess remaining challenges. Sen. Landrieu will also explore policies, which may include innovative Dutch technologies and practices, that can reduce the persistent delays and cost overruns of Army Corps of Engineers projects.
More.....
Blogger Note:
AWESOME!!!
Friday, May 15, 2009
Trial ends in lawsuit against Corps, ruling could take weeks or months | News for New Orleans, Louisiana | Local News | News and Weather for New Orleans | wwltv.com
Trial ends in lawsuit against Corps, ruling could take weeks or months | wwltv.com
04:30 PM CDT on Thursday, May 14, 2009
Associated Press
A trial in a lawsuit blaming the Army Corps of Engineers for the flooding of eastern New Orleans, the Lower 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parish during Hurricane Katrina has ended after four weeks of testimony from a series of experts.
Now, U.S. District Judge Stanwood R. Duval Jr. will take the case under consideration and rule sometime in the coming weeks -- or months.
The lawsuit by five people and one business was the first major case against the federal government over flooding from Katrina. The fate of more than 120,000 other claims by individuals, businesses and government bodies hinge on Duval's ruling.
The suit claims that the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, a shipping channel the Army Corps dug in the late 1950s, led to the destruction of the natural environment southeast of New Orleans and the wipeout flooding during Katrina.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
04:30 PM CDT on Thursday, May 14, 2009
Associated Press
A trial in a lawsuit blaming the Army Corps of Engineers for the flooding of eastern New Orleans, the Lower 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parish during Hurricane Katrina has ended after four weeks of testimony from a series of experts.
Now, U.S. District Judge Stanwood R. Duval Jr. will take the case under consideration and rule sometime in the coming weeks -- or months.
The lawsuit by five people and one business was the first major case against the federal government over flooding from Katrina. The fate of more than 120,000 other claims by individuals, businesses and government bodies hinge on Duval's ruling.
The suit claims that the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, a shipping channel the Army Corps dug in the late 1950s, led to the destruction of the natural environment southeast of New Orleans and the wipeout flooding during Katrina.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Poverty in America - Change.org: Policies that Make People Disappear
Poverty in America - Change.org: Policies that Make People Disappear
::SNIP::
This observation was striking, and I thought of many examples of how post-Katrina policies have literally made people disappear.
In the fall of 2007, I visited the largest post-Katrina FEMA trailer park in Louisiana, cruelly named Renaissance Village. It was converted into a FEMA trailer park when FEMA covered a cow pasture with gravel. It was only possible to access Renaissance Village by car- you could not walk to it from anywhere else and public transportation was weekly. It was surrounded by a high fence and patrolled by a private security company (who also controlled access- I had to obtain previous security clearance to enter). All residents were poor, the vast majority were black, many had mental and physical disabilities, and a great deal of them were public housing residents before Katrina. There was no access to jobs or even grocery stores. I was deeply affected by this visit and the people I met. It literally felt like FEMA dumped the most vulnerable group of Katrina affected people in the middle of a field somewhere to be forgotten. It was like they disappeared.
In the meantime, local and federal government officials have been busy ensuring that there are no physical reminders of these internally displaced people’s presence in New Orleans. This includes local governments who have refused to allow the rebuilding of affordable housing. But perhaps the most dramatic example was HUD’s determination to demolish 4,500 units of New Orleans public housing, much of which wasn’t even damaged by the storm or flood.
When I talk with volunteers who come to
::SNIP::
This observation was striking, and I thought of many examples of how post-Katrina policies have literally made people disappear.
In the fall of 2007, I visited the largest post-Katrina FEMA trailer park in Louisiana, cruelly named Renaissance Village. It was converted into a FEMA trailer park when FEMA covered a cow pasture with gravel. It was only possible to access Renaissance Village by car- you could not walk to it from anywhere else and public transportation was weekly. It was surrounded by a high fence and patrolled by a private security company (who also controlled access- I had to obtain previous security clearance to enter). All residents were poor, the vast majority were black, many had mental and physical disabilities, and a great deal of them were public housing residents before Katrina. There was no access to jobs or even grocery stores. I was deeply affected by this visit and the people I met. It literally felt like FEMA dumped the most vulnerable group of Katrina affected people in the middle of a field somewhere to be forgotten. It was like they disappeared.
In the meantime, local and federal government officials have been busy ensuring that there are no physical reminders of these internally displaced people’s presence in New Orleans. This includes local governments who have refused to allow the rebuilding of affordable housing. But perhaps the most dramatic example was HUD’s determination to demolish 4,500 units of New Orleans public housing, much of which wasn’t even damaged by the storm or flood.
When I talk with volunteers who come to
Obama administration rejects federal wind insurance for hurricanes - Politics AP - MiamiHerald.com
Obama administration rejects federal wind insurance for hurricanes - Politics AP - MiamiHerald.com
Obama administration rejects federal wind insurance for hurricanes
By MARIA RECIO
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration has quietly told Congress that it "strongly opposes" federal wind insurance legislation - surprising a Mississippi lawmaker who lost his home to Hurricane Katrina and who's spent more than two years fighting for wind coverage.
The legislation would permit homeowners who participate in the federal national flood insurance program to purchase wind coverage at actuarially set rates.
Homeowners in hurricane-prone states like Florida, the Carolinas and Texas have found wind coverage either expensive or impossible to find, forcing many states to form wind pools or, in the case of Florida, a state-owned insurance provider.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has been a strong backer of the legislation, which passed the House of Representatives last session by a wide margin as part of the flood insurance reauthorization. It failed, however, in a lopsided 74-19 Senate vote.
A shell-shocked Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., said he learned just a few days ago that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Craig Fugate, the nominee to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency, had written lawmakers in opposition to Taylor's legislation.
"I'm obviously extremely disappointed," Taylor told McClatchy Newspapers, "that an administration that ran on 'change you can believe in' did this without taking the time to talk to us.
"I'm particularly angry that they're bailing out AIG, but when it comes to the excessive cost of wind coverage, they're not helping the people of coastal areas," he said. American International Group is one of the nation's largest insurers.
Obama administration rejects federal wind insurance for hurricanes
By MARIA RECIO
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration has quietly told Congress that it "strongly opposes" federal wind insurance legislation - surprising a Mississippi lawmaker who lost his home to Hurricane Katrina and who's spent more than two years fighting for wind coverage.
The legislation would permit homeowners who participate in the federal national flood insurance program to purchase wind coverage at actuarially set rates.
Homeowners in hurricane-prone states like Florida, the Carolinas and Texas have found wind coverage either expensive or impossible to find, forcing many states to form wind pools or, in the case of Florida, a state-owned insurance provider.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has been a strong backer of the legislation, which passed the House of Representatives last session by a wide margin as part of the flood insurance reauthorization. It failed, however, in a lopsided 74-19 Senate vote.
A shell-shocked Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., said he learned just a few days ago that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Craig Fugate, the nominee to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency, had written lawmakers in opposition to Taylor's legislation.
"I'm obviously extremely disappointed," Taylor told McClatchy Newspapers, "that an administration that ran on 'change you can believe in' did this without taking the time to talk to us.
"I'm particularly angry that they're bailing out AIG, but when it comes to the excessive cost of wind coverage, they're not helping the people of coastal areas," he said. American International Group is one of the nation's largest insurers.
OpEdNews » Obama Shows His True Katrina Colors
Obama Shows His True Katrina Colors
If response to the crimes of Katrina is the litmus test for 21st Century Black politics – and it should be – then the Obama administration has failed to distinguish itself from its predecessor under George W. Bush. The Bush imperative was to take gruesome advantage of the hurricane’s destruction to accomplish a national goal: to drive poor Blacks from the central cities. Every governmental crime of omission and commission in the wake of Katrina was coldly calculated to permanently exile several hundred thousand African Americans from New Orleans. The city was deliberately rendered unlivable for a huge portion of its previous residents, while corporate vultures from across the nation and even Australia schemed to create a new urban “model” – minus African Americans.
From the beginning, candidate Obama denied that racism played a role in Katrina’s aftermath. The prevailing “incompetence,” he said, was “colorblind” – proving either that he, Obama, was the blind one or that the man who would be president is as hostile to the inner city poor as George Bush.
Obama waited until his first 100 days in office had passed to delegate to his minions the task of evicting Katrina survivors from 3,000 FEMA trailers. Most of the trailer inhabitants are elderly. Two-thirds of them own homes that they have been trying to make habitable, with or without help from the government. Their evictions from the trailers will make it that much harder to renew their lives as permanent residents of New Orleans – which is the whole point of the evictions.
“Obama has effectively adopted the Bush policy on New Orleans, in whole.”
FEMA claims that it has always offered to allow people to buy the trailers for as little as $300. But the trailer residents overwhelmingly dispute that story. According to the New York Times, “virtually all of the residents interviewed said they had offered” to buy their trailers, but were “told they could not.” Who are you going to believe, the people or FEMA?
And who is to blame? Not George Bush, not anymore. President Obama has effectively adopted the Bush policy on New Orleans, in whole. Not a single one of 500 planned “Katrina cottages” has been made ready for occupancy. Elderly people squat in abandoned buildings. There are no credible plans to repair or create an infrastructure that could accommodate the poor who still remain, much less the New Orleans diaspora, scattered to the four winds three and a half years ago.
President Obama’s economic stimulus plan, of which he is so proud, revealed his
::SNIP::
more....
If response to the crimes of Katrina is the litmus test for 21st Century Black politics – and it should be – then the Obama administration has failed to distinguish itself from its predecessor under George W. Bush. The Bush imperative was to take gruesome advantage of the hurricane’s destruction to accomplish a national goal: to drive poor Blacks from the central cities. Every governmental crime of omission and commission in the wake of Katrina was coldly calculated to permanently exile several hundred thousand African Americans from New Orleans. The city was deliberately rendered unlivable for a huge portion of its previous residents, while corporate vultures from across the nation and even Australia schemed to create a new urban “model” – minus African Americans.
From the beginning, candidate Obama denied that racism played a role in Katrina’s aftermath. The prevailing “incompetence,” he said, was “colorblind” – proving either that he, Obama, was the blind one or that the man who would be president is as hostile to the inner city poor as George Bush.
Obama waited until his first 100 days in office had passed to delegate to his minions the task of evicting Katrina survivors from 3,000 FEMA trailers. Most of the trailer inhabitants are elderly. Two-thirds of them own homes that they have been trying to make habitable, with or without help from the government. Their evictions from the trailers will make it that much harder to renew their lives as permanent residents of New Orleans – which is the whole point of the evictions.
“Obama has effectively adopted the Bush policy on New Orleans, in whole.”
FEMA claims that it has always offered to allow people to buy the trailers for as little as $300. But the trailer residents overwhelmingly dispute that story. According to the New York Times, “virtually all of the residents interviewed said they had offered” to buy their trailers, but were “told they could not.” Who are you going to believe, the people or FEMA?
And who is to blame? Not George Bush, not anymore. President Obama has effectively adopted the Bush policy on New Orleans, in whole. Not a single one of 500 planned “Katrina cottages” has been made ready for occupancy. Elderly people squat in abandoned buildings. There are no credible plans to repair or create an infrastructure that could accommodate the poor who still remain, much less the New Orleans diaspora, scattered to the four winds three and a half years ago.
President Obama’s economic stimulus plan, of which he is so proud, revealed his
::SNIP::
more....
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
LegalNewsline | Hood says State Farm settlement should stay sealed
Hood says State Farm settlement should stay sealed
::snip::
"Hundreds of thousands of Mississippians were adversely affected by Hurricane Katrina," Jackson New Media attorney Andy Taggart said.
"This was a watershed piece of litigation that tens of thousands of homeowners and all Mississippi taxpayers have a stake in. All we ask from the Court is to allow the press and the public their First Amendment right to access to relevant court materials and remove the lingering doubts as to what really happened in this matter."
Hood sued State Farm and four other insurance companies weeks after Katrina, claiming that they intentionally misrepresented to policyholders the amount of damage done by wind (covered by their policies) and water (covered by a federal program).
A proposed settlement with State Farm had the potential to affect more than 35,000 policyholders, but a federal judge did not approve of it for procedural reasons. A separate successful settlement of 640 claims was coupled with a $5 million payment to Hood with the agreement his criminal investigation would cease, the company said.
More...
::snip::
"Hundreds of thousands of Mississippians were adversely affected by Hurricane Katrina," Jackson New Media attorney Andy Taggart said.
"This was a watershed piece of litigation that tens of thousands of homeowners and all Mississippi taxpayers have a stake in. All we ask from the Court is to allow the press and the public their First Amendment right to access to relevant court materials and remove the lingering doubts as to what really happened in this matter."
Hood sued State Farm and four other insurance companies weeks after Katrina, claiming that they intentionally misrepresented to policyholders the amount of damage done by wind (covered by their policies) and water (covered by a federal program).
A proposed settlement with State Farm had the potential to affect more than 35,000 policyholders, but a federal judge did not approve of it for procedural reasons. A separate successful settlement of 640 claims was coupled with a $5 million payment to Hood with the agreement his criminal investigation would cease, the company said.
More...
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Housing Travesty After Katrina Isn't Over | Culture11
Housing Travesty After Katrina Isn't Over | Culture11: "There are times when our federal government's missteps in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina can make even the Keystone Cops look organized and efficient. I just about chomped through the cigar I was puffing on yesterday when I scanned down the front page of yesterday's New York Times to be greeted by the headline 'Ready or Not, Katrina Victims Lose Temporary Housing'. The first thought that snapped through my mind was we are building new schools in Iraq to replace the ones we blew up, but we can't take care of our own citizens?"
The Associated Press: Critics: Army Corps' $5.2M PR tab is wasteful spin
The Associated Press: Critics: Army Corps of Engineers' $5.2M PR tab is wasteful spin: "Critics: Army Corps' $5.2M PR tab is wasteful spin
By CAIN BURDEAU – 1 day ago
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A public relations firm boasts it turned around media coverage of the much-maligned Army Corps of Engineers since Hurricane Katrina wiped out sections of New Orleans in 2005 — to the tune of $5.2 million.
But critics say the PR spending was a wasteful move that amounts to little more than spin.
In 2007, the Army Corps in New Orleans awarded the PR contract to Outreach Process Partners Inc., an Annapolis, Md.-based firm. Although the company says the contract is a fraction of the $14.6 billion Congress allocated for improving the region's levee system, a New Orleans-based group has led the public outcry and urged people to send letters to congressional representatives. Some 500 letters have been sent so far, according to the group, Levees.org.
'Now we don't even know how to say 'No comment,' we need to hire people to say that for us,' said Harry Shearer, a New Orleans actor and blogger. He argued the corps is trying to 'keep the knowledge we have in New Orleans limited and parochial and to keep the rest of the country bamboozled.'"
BLOGGERNOTE:
Spending taxpayer money intended to repair the levees to LIE ABOUT HOW WELL THE CORPS IS DOING???
Get a rope.
By CAIN BURDEAU – 1 day ago
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A public relations firm boasts it turned around media coverage of the much-maligned Army Corps of Engineers since Hurricane Katrina wiped out sections of New Orleans in 2005 — to the tune of $5.2 million.
But critics say the PR spending was a wasteful move that amounts to little more than spin.
In 2007, the Army Corps in New Orleans awarded the PR contract to Outreach Process Partners Inc., an Annapolis, Md.-based firm. Although the company says the contract is a fraction of the $14.6 billion Congress allocated for improving the region's levee system, a New Orleans-based group has led the public outcry and urged people to send letters to congressional representatives. Some 500 letters have been sent so far, according to the group, Levees.org.
'Now we don't even know how to say 'No comment,' we need to hire people to say that for us,' said Harry Shearer, a New Orleans actor and blogger. He argued the corps is trying to 'keep the knowledge we have in New Orleans limited and parochial and to keep the rest of the country bamboozled.'"
BLOGGERNOTE:
Spending taxpayer money intended to repair the levees to LIE ABOUT HOW WELL THE CORPS IS DOING???
Get a rope.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Leaving the Trailers - Ready or Not, Katrina Victims Lose Temporary Housing - Series - NYTimes.com
::snip::
“I need the trailer,” said Mr. Hammond, 70. “I ain’t got nowhere to go if they take the trailer.”
Though more than 4,000 Louisiana homeowners have received rebuilding money only in the last six months, or are struggling with inadequate grants or no money at all, FEMA is intent on taking away their trailers by the end of May. The deadline, which ends temporary housing before permanent housing has replaced it, has become a stark example of recovery programs that seem almost to be working against one another.
Thousands of rental units have yet to be restored, and not a single one of 500 planned “Katrina cottages” has been completed and occupied. The Road Home program for single-family homeowners, which has cost federal taxpayers $7.9 billion, has a new contractor who is struggling to review a host of appeals, and workers who assist the homeless are finding more elderly people squatting in abandoned buildings.
Nonetheless, FEMA wants its trailers back, even though it plans to scrap or sell them for a fraction of what it paid for them.
::SNIP::
FEMA says it has done everything it can to help those in temporary housing. But, as is so often the case when it comes to Katrina issues, the agency’s clients give a different account. Agency officials insist, for example, that they have been working “extensively” to help families in trailers and hotels find permanent solutions.
“A lot of people are involved in the process of making sure that no one falls through the cracks,” said Manuel Broussard, an agency spokesman in Louisiana. “Everyone’s been offered housing up to this point several times. And for various reasons, they have not accepted it.”
But the dozen temporary housing occupants interviewed for this story said they had received little if any attention from FEMA workers and were lucky to get a list of landlords, much less an offer of permanent housing.
::SNIP::
FEMA officials also say that residents can buy their trailers, sometimes for as little as $300. But virtually all of the residents interviewed said they had offered to do so and been told they could not.
::snip::
“I need the trailer,” said Mr. Hammond, 70. “I ain’t got nowhere to go if they take the trailer.”
Though more than 4,000 Louisiana homeowners have received rebuilding money only in the last six months, or are struggling with inadequate grants or no money at all, FEMA is intent on taking away their trailers by the end of May. The deadline, which ends temporary housing before permanent housing has replaced it, has become a stark example of recovery programs that seem almost to be working against one another.
Thousands of rental units have yet to be restored, and not a single one of 500 planned “Katrina cottages” has been completed and occupied. The Road Home program for single-family homeowners, which has cost federal taxpayers $7.9 billion, has a new contractor who is struggling to review a host of appeals, and workers who assist the homeless are finding more elderly people squatting in abandoned buildings.
Nonetheless, FEMA wants its trailers back, even though it plans to scrap or sell them for a fraction of what it paid for them.
::SNIP::
FEMA says it has done everything it can to help those in temporary housing. But, as is so often the case when it comes to Katrina issues, the agency’s clients give a different account. Agency officials insist, for example, that they have been working “extensively” to help families in trailers and hotels find permanent solutions.
“A lot of people are involved in the process of making sure that no one falls through the cracks,” said Manuel Broussard, an agency spokesman in Louisiana. “Everyone’s been offered housing up to this point several times. And for various reasons, they have not accepted it.”
But the dozen temporary housing occupants interviewed for this story said they had received little if any attention from FEMA workers and were lucky to get a list of landlords, much less an offer of permanent housing.
::SNIP::
FEMA officials also say that residents can buy their trailers, sometimes for as little as $300. But virtually all of the residents interviewed said they had offered to do so and been told they could not.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
New Orleans Recovery Chief to Leave - NYTimes.com
New Orleans Recovery Chief to Leave - NYTimes.com
Edward J. Blakely, the New Orleans recovery director, who was given enormous power to steer the city’s rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina, will leave his city government post this summer after two and a half years, he told The Times-Picayune on Wednesday.
When he was hired, Mr. Blakely, a former chairman of the department of city and regional planning at the University of California, Berkeley, was known as a prominent expert on post-disaster recovery, and he freely proclaimed his own importance to the city. But many residents quickly grew frustrated with the slow pace of rebuilding.
Mr. Blakely, who was chairman of urban and regional planning at the University of Sydney, in Australia, and commuted from there despite his $150,000 city salary, quickly came under scrutiny for spending time away from the city while neighborhoods languished.
In recent news interviews he has defended his record, saying almost all of the federal block grant money has been allocated and 400 rebuilding projects were in the pipeline. Mr. Blakely did not return phone calls to his office on Wednesday.
Ceeon Quiett, a spokeswoman for Mayor C. Ray Nagin, said the projects
more.....
BloggerNote:
Good Riddance!!!
Edward J. Blakely, the New Orleans recovery director, who was given enormous power to steer the city’s rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina, will leave his city government post this summer after two and a half years, he told The Times-Picayune on Wednesday.
When he was hired, Mr. Blakely, a former chairman of the department of city and regional planning at the University of California, Berkeley, was known as a prominent expert on post-disaster recovery, and he freely proclaimed his own importance to the city. But many residents quickly grew frustrated with the slow pace of rebuilding.
Mr. Blakely, who was chairman of urban and regional planning at the University of Sydney, in Australia, and commuted from there despite his $150,000 city salary, quickly came under scrutiny for spending time away from the city while neighborhoods languished.
In recent news interviews he has defended his record, saying almost all of the federal block grant money has been allocated and 400 rebuilding projects were in the pipeline. Mr. Blakely did not return phone calls to his office on Wednesday.
Ceeon Quiett, a spokeswoman for Mayor C. Ray Nagin, said the projects
more.....
BloggerNote:
Good Riddance!!!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Heres an email I just sent to my Representatives:
From Daniel G*****
To Doris Matsui (D), Dianne Feinstein (D), Barbara Boxer (D)
Subject: Make New Orleans safe
Message: Dear Senator and Congressperson,
Please support any legislation that improves the levees and wetlands in New Orleans. Please give royalties from off shore oil production to Louisiana; (as is done for other Gulf region states), to improve environmental destruction caused by pipeline construction.
Help rebuild New Orleans.
And last but not least; would somebody please waterboard, or at least censure, Rep Baker for his bigotted comments immediately after the governmental failure of the levees:
"We couldnt clean out New Orleans housing projects, but God did."
~Richard Baker, Republican Congressman
Thank You,
Daniel G*****
You too, can send a letter, starting HERE:
http://www.troublethewaterfilm.com/page/speakout/HBOStandUp
.....and using your own words like I did.
From Daniel G*****
To Doris Matsui (D), Dianne Feinstein (D), Barbara Boxer (D)
Subject: Make New Orleans safe
Message: Dear Senator and Congressperson,
Please support any legislation that improves the levees and wetlands in New Orleans. Please give royalties from off shore oil production to Louisiana; (as is done for other Gulf region states), to improve environmental destruction caused by pipeline construction.
Help rebuild New Orleans.
And last but not least; would somebody please waterboard, or at least censure, Rep Baker for his bigotted comments immediately after the governmental failure of the levees:
"We couldnt clean out New Orleans housing projects, but God did."
~Richard Baker, Republican Congressman
Thank You,
Daniel G*****
You too, can send a letter, starting HERE:
http://www.troublethewaterfilm.com/page/speakout/HBOStandUp
.....and using your own words like I did.
Hurricane Katrina survivor's footage utilized by Trouble the Water's filmmakers | Straight.com
Hurricane Katrina survivor's footage utilized by Trouble the Water's filmmakers | Straight.com: "“At the same time, we just felt it was really important to illustrate some of the disconnect that the rest of us were having with the situation—particularly with President Bush, who we show in one scene speaking directly to the people in New Orleans on television when the people in New Orleans had no television.”"
Friday, May 1, 2009
Poverty in America - Change.org: Mass Incarceration: An Unacceptable Strategy for Poverty Reduction
Poverty in America - Change.org: Mass Incarceration: An Unacceptable Strategy for Poverty Reduction: "According to the Pew Center on the States, the United States incarcerates more people than any country in the world, with approximately one in 100 people behind bars in 2008. Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the nation, with 1 in 55 adults currently behind bars. This figure only includes people behind bars, not people on probation or parole. Since 1982, Louisiana’s incarceration rate has risen by 272 percent."
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