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Tuesday, February 28, 2006

FS EXCLUSIVE: The Mardi Gras Index

It's been six months since Hurricane Katrina hit, and all eyes are on New Orleans as it celebrates Mardi Gras. But how is the city doing?

Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch -- the Institute's special post-Katrina investigative project -- has released a new 36-page report (pdf) analyzing indicators from housing to jobs, public health and hurricane preparedness. Here's our conclusion:
"Despite promises from national leaders to "do what it takes" to rebuild New Orleans, the devastated city has been mostly left to fend for itself -- with tragic results," says Chris Kromm, co-author of the report and director of the Institute. "Without a bold, national commitment, the city won't come back."

The full release is after the jump:

"MARDI GRAS INDEX" FINDS REBUILDING
STALLED IN NEW ORLEANS

Six months after Katrina, report says key issues demand national attention to bring city back

DURHAM, N.C. -- As New Orleans residents celebrate Mardi Gras today -- six months after the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina -- the city has made little progress in rebuilding and won't be revived unless national leaders confront "fundamental barriers" to renewal.

That's the finding of "The Mardi Gras Index," a new report by the non-profit Institute for Southern Studies based in Durham, N.C. The Index analyzes the city's post-hurricane status in 11 areas including housing, public health, the economy and disaster preparedness.

"Despite promises from national leaders to "do what it takes" to rebuild New Orleans, the devastated city has been mostly left to fend for itself -- with tragic results," says Chris Kromm, co-author of the report and director of the Institute. "Without a bold, national commitment, the city won't come back."

The Institute report looks at over 130 indicators, and finds that, despite a few hopeful signs, progress has largely stalled on the key issues that will shape the city's future. For example:

* Lack of HOUSING is preventing many from returning to New Orleans. No action is being taken to help renters, two-thirds of those displaced by the storm; many home-owners remain in limbo; and 11,000 FEMA trailers sit empty in Hope, Arkansas.

* HEALTH AND SAFETY concerns are keeping residents away -- from rampant mold, to pollution "hot spots" such as four city neighborhoods with 100 times accepted safe levels of arsenic. Regulators have offered no clean-up plan -- creating a public health threat compounded by the city's gutted health care system.

* A dearth of SCHOOLS --only 17 percent of the city's public schools have re-opened -- will stop many families from returning.

* The absence of progress in HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS is troubling. With just three months remaining until the 2006 hurricane season, there is no funding for full- scale wetland restoration or levees that could survive a hurricane the strength of Katrina (Category 3) or more.

The 36-page report also finds that those hurt most by the nation's failure to help rebuild New Orleans are the same people who suffered most from the storms of 2005.

"The people left behind in the evacuation of New Orleans after Katrina are the same people left behind in rebuilding of New Orleans -- the poor, the sick, the elderly, the disabled and children, mostly African-American," says Prof. William Quigley, a law professor at Loyola University in New Orleans.

"There is not a sign outside of New Orleans saying, 'If you are poor, sick, elderly, disabled, a child or African-American, you cannot return.' But there might as well be," adds Quigley, who is also an advisor to Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch.

The report is a part of the Institute's Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch project, launched in November 2005 to document and investigate the rebuilding of the Southern Gulf in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Founded in 1970, the Institute is a non- profit research and education center, and publisher of the award-winning Southern Exposure magazine.

For more information, please visit:

Mardi Gras Index full report (pdf):
http://www.reconstructionwatch.org/MardiGrasReport 6.pdf

Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch:
www.reconstructionwatch.org
posted by Chris Kromm at 11:17 AM | Email this post

Laissez le bon temps rouler!

Chris reminded us recently that there are lots of ways you can show solidarity with the people of New Orleans on their most famous day of partying. Like he said, do something!

For those of us who can't be there in person, we can be there in spirit. Here's a little sampler to get you in the mood for your own "virtual" Mardi Gras…

  • For many folks, New Orleans means one thing: great food. If you can't visit one of New Orleans' world-class restaurants, you can make yourself some Louisiana style cuisine at home. Here's a simple recipe for a classic main dish and dessert that teaches you some basics of New Orleans-style cooking. For more recipes and to lean more about the basics, check out the cooking section at Gumbo Pages.

  • In preparing your Mardi Gras feast, be sure to use New Orleans local products if you can. Many of these products can be found at your local grocery store year-round. If you can't find any of the coffees mentioned, Folgers is a widely available New Orleans brand (try the French Roast or Gourmet Supreme). And while it's not quite the same as the real thing hot out of the kettle, Café Du Monde beignet mix is available at many local groceries. (An electric skillet works great for making your own.)

  • For lots of other folks, New Orleans means one thing: great music. Take a virtual tour of famous shrines like the Preservation Hall or Tipitina's. Read about the local music scene and see who's playing where at offBeat Magazine (select some local background music from the channel pushbuttons at the top of the page). For a comprehensive catalog of New Orleans Jazz, Blues, Zydeco, and Cajun music, check out the Louisiana Music Factory.

  • Of course, no virtual visit to Bourbon Street is complete until you get yourself at least one Hurricane in a "go cup" (and one is most likely all you'll need). Here's the original Pat O'Brien Hurricane recipe. If a lower octane adult beverage is more to your liking, try a beer from Abita, or maybe a Dixie Brewing Co. Blackened Voodoo Lager if you can find it.

  • Make Fat Tuesday "Talk Like a Yat Day". (If you think you might feel silly, see the aforementioned Hurricane recipe first.) Here's a basic glossary to get you started. To learn more, check out "How to tawk rite" at the Gumbo Pages.

  • Wrap up your Fat Tuesday celebration with a visit to the official Mardi Gras 2006 website, or NOLA.com's Mardi Gras page. Enjoy a virtual visit to Bourbon Street by way of NOLA.com's Bourbocam, or one of the other New Orleans webcams at NOLA.com's Cams Central.

    Have fun, and don't forget that while today is the big party day in New Orleans, tomorrow the city gets back to work on the serious business of rebuilding. Help them out however you can, and keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

    Oh, and the quote of the day (by News Director Phil Johnson of WWL-TV New Orleans from the Gumbo Pages):

    "Thank God the French got here first!"
    • posted by R. Neal at 4:36 AM | Email this post

    Monday, February 27, 2006

    Bribing with class

    The newswires are aglow with reports about how convicted Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham went about accepting bribes in return for hefty defense contracts from his perch at the House Appropriations Committee from 1998 to 2005:
    Prices came in the form of a "bribe menu" that detailed how much it would cost contractors to essentially order multimillion-dollar government contracts, according to documents submitted by federal prosecutors for Cunningham's sentencing hearing this Friday.

    "The length, breadth and depth of Cunningham's crimes," the sentencing memorandum states, "are unprecedented for a sitting member of Congress."
    Given the tawdry history of Capitol Hill's lower chamber, that's a strong statement. Besides, it's clear that Cunningham put a lot of thought into helping would-be bribers know how to go about their business, instead of the guessing game most Congressfolk demand when pocketing campaign cash:
    The card shows an escalating scale for bribes, starting at $140,000 and a luxury yacht for a $16 million Defense Department contract. Each additional $1 million in contract value required a $50,000 bribe.

    The rate dropped to $25,000 per additional million once the contract went above $20 million.
    One of the defense contracts that found the "menu" helpful was Mitchell Wade, who pleaded guilty to giving Cunningham more than $1 million in bribes of cash, cars and antiques over four years in exchange for more than $150 million in government contracts for his company, MZM Inc.

    Sounds like he knew the menu by heart.

    By contrast, it seems Katherine Harris (R-FL) didn't show as much TLC with her benefactors. As the Gainseville Sun reported last Friday,
    In a campaign desperate for smooth roads, Katherine Harris' quest for the U.S. Senate just can't stop hitting the potholes.

    [O]n Friday, a former defense contractor pleaded guilty to bribing a California congressman. Mitchell Wade, the former president of MZM Inc., also said he'd given more than $50,000 in illegal contributions to Harris. MZM was Harris' largest donor in 2004; Harris recently gave the donations to charity.
    If she had shown a touch more Southern hospitality, maybe she could have brought in more than $50,000.
    posted by Chris Kromm at 2:05 PM | Email this post

    Get tough on crime ... unless you're Halliburton

    I usually think of Army officials as the type of people that run a tight ship -- the kind with little tolerance for law-breaking, bending the rules, and failing to do the best for your country. "Be all you can be," right?

    Combine that aura of Pentagon culture with the law-and-order mantra of conservative politicians, and you'd think today's Army would be a whip-cracking hell for those who dare to abuse the public trust through fraud and abuse.

    Unless, apparently, you happen to be a politically-connected corporation caught over-charging tax-payers to the tune of $250 million, as the New York Times reports today:
    The Army has decided to reimburse a Halliburton subsidiary for nearly all of its disputed costs on a $2.41 billion no-bid contract to deliver fuel and repair oil equipment in Iraq, even though the Pentagon's own auditors had identified more than $250 million in charges as potentially excessive or unjustified.
    The Army had what they thought was a perfectly reasonable explanation for their action:
    Under the type of contract awarded to the company, "the contractor is not required to perform perfectly to be entitled to reimbursement," said Rhonda James, a spokeswoman for the southwestern division of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, based in Dallas, where the contract is administered.
    How far from "perfectly" can one be? As Rep. Henry Waxman, ranking minority member of the House Committee on Government Reform, said in a statement:
    "Halliburton gouged the taxpayer, government auditors caught the company red-handed, yet the Pentagon ignored the auditors and paid Halliburton hundreds of millions of dollars and a huge bonus."
    So much for law and order.
    posted by Chris Kromm at 7:35 AM | Email this post

    Friday, February 24, 2006

    Cracking down on abusive lenders: it works

    Each year, consumers lose $25 billion due to predatory mortgages, payday loans, and other lending abuses like overdraft loans, excessive credit card debt, and tax refund loans. These nefarious banking practices strip away wealth from low-income people and communities, and transfer them to powerful finance interests.

    Banks have vigorously fought any attempts by states to crack down on predatory lending, claiming it would not only hurt their profit margins, but on the grounds that it would dry up credit for low-income borrowers.

    But a new study from the Center for Responsible Lending shows it ain't so. Analyzing six million loans over a seven-year period, the study finds that state laws are doing their job, without negative consequences:
    The study shows that abusive lending drops significantly in states with strong laws, yet borrowers in the subprime market still have ready access to credit.

    "The study shows that state laws are attacking the cancer of predatory lending without causing side effects," said Keith Ernst, author of the report along with Wei Li, both of the Center for Responsible Lending. "From a consumer's point of view, there's no down side."
    At least 24 states have passed specific anti-predatory lending laws to supplement federal protections aimed at ending abusive mortgage lending practices. The Center has a handy chart to see how your state stacks up.
    posted by Chris Kromm at 10:52 AM | Email this post

    Friday Bird Blogging



    A hawk (Cooper's Hawk?) spotted during last week's Great Backyard Bird Count
    posted by R. Neal at 10:19 AM | Email this post

    Average Americans off to rough start this millenium

    The economy is doing great. That's the message the White House and business reporters have been pedaling, ever since the recession "ended" in 2002. But this week, none other than the Federal Reserve Board -- a bastion of corporate-class boosterism -- has come out with a report clearly showing that for most of us, things aren't so good.

    In its Survey of Consumer Finances, published every third year, the Feds analyzed trends from 2001-2004. On a host of indicators, there are a host of troubling signs:
    WAGES AND INCOME DOWN: From 2001 to 2004, average family income fell 2.3%, and median income stagnated, rising only 1.6%. Real wages -- those adjusted for inflation -- dropped 6%.

    GROWING INEQUALITY: The median net worth of the wealthiest 10% of families increased 4% to $924,100 in 2004 from $887,900 in the previous Fed survey. At the same time, the net worth of the bottom 20% of the income distribution declined by more than 10% to $7,500. The income group from 20% to 40% had a 13% drop in net wealth to $34,300. Net worth is the difference between family assets, such as stocks and homes, and liabilities.

    RISING DEBT: The percentage of families holding debt rose 1.3 percentage points to 76.4%. The median debt level jumped 33.9% to $55,300. Some of this was "good debt"-- i.e., home mortgages -- but it's also clear people are deep in hock.

    REGIONAL DISPARITIES: The Northeast was the only region to show gains in both average and median — the point at which half earned more and half earned less — incomes from 2001 to 2004. In the Midwest and South, both income measures declined. In the West, only the median rose.

    Note that this was all BEFORE high energy prices and other inflation pressures gouged more money from people's wallets.
    posted by Chris Kromm at 8:17 AM | Email this post

    Thursday, February 23, 2006

    Greetings from New Orleans

    This might brighten your day:

    Greetings from New Orleans: an experiment in found art

    You have to read the introduction to understand what it's all about. Pretty fascinating.

    Bonus:

    Didn't He Ramble: obituary nicknames

    "I liked these obits because they captured snippets of lives that are a reflection of the community I love. New Orleans in the pre-Katrina world was full of characters that you’d sooner expect to read about in a Flannery O’conner short story than meet in real life. These scraps of paper survived Katrina in my beaten up Mid City home, and as I gaze on them now, they are a poignant reminder of what’s been lost. Infrastructure can be rebuilt with money, sweat and time. Social structure is a more complicated endeavor.

    With 80% of the town still in forced exile a full 3.5 months after Katrina, I wonder how “Tangle Eye” would have done in Salt Lake City or how Mr. “Dolomite” would have been received in Minneapolis. I imagine “Rabbit Carwash” working as a detail technician in Bose, Montana and I fear for his life. And what about the next generation of “Puddins” and “Stumpies” and “Mumbles” and “Roundheads”?. How are they making out right now?

    As my friend Ian McNulty recently confessed to me in a moment of clarity, many of us live in New Orleans not by choice but because we can’t function anywhere else. The reality is not that extreme. The pre-Katrina city was unique because it allowed people to be their true eccentric selves. A lot of the New Orleans evacuees will certainly succeed in moving on and finding jobs and creating successful lives in other cities, but will those cities allow them to be “Snake” or “Baudy Man” or “Betty Boo”?.

    I have my doubts."

    Go see these two interesting works by Justin Lundgren.
    posted by R. Neal at 6:46 AM | Email this post

    Organic reconstruction

    Here's a NYT editorial comparing the housing situation in New Orleans to NYC urban decay circa 1970. The conclusion:
    Just as in New York, New Orleans residents can defy official prescriptions. As I saw on a recent visit, New Orleanians feel abandoned by everyone and cheated by insurance companies. But instead of quietly accepting the government's declarations that their houses are unsalvageable, they're cleaning out flooded homes and learning how to rebuild. Their outcry against the mayoral commission's recommendation that the city impose a moratorium on reconstruction in flooded areas effectively killed that idea.

    It is those kinds of efforts that will bring New Orleans back. Organic urban neighborhoods are self-generated, not developer-built. The family enclaves, extensive social networks, well-attended churches, historic attachment to property and fierce dedication to local culture and place make New Orleans unique. If that authentic energy is stifled by misguided strategies, neighborhoods will die.
    It's an interesting commentary on lessons learned by New Yorkers rebuilding their own neighborhoods and how those lessons might apply for New Orleans.
    posted by R. Neal at 6:19 AM | Email this post

    FEMA voter data dispute

    According to the New Orleans Times Picayune, a Louisiana court has ruled that candidates there may not have access to FEMA registries of displaced residents who may also be voters:
    Two New Orleans lawmakers do not have the right to obtain the Federal Emergency Management Agency's list of addresses for residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina, a state district court judge ruled Wednesday.

    Judge William Morvant said that because the list is not a public record, the state does not have an obligation to hand over the information. In a hearing at the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge, Morvant said that because the list is derived from applications for FEMA assistance, the people on it have an expectation that their information will be kept private under federal privacy laws.

    Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of New Orleans state Reps. Charmaine Marchand and Cedric Richmond, both Democrats, said he expects to take the issue to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal. The lawmakers say the list is necessary so candidates for public office can send campaign material to registered voters.

    "You can't have an election. No rational people believe you can have a public election with private voting rolls," Fields said after the hearing. The municipal primary in New Orleans is scheduled for April 22; the mayor, City Council members and others are up for election.
    According to the article, the Louisiana Secretary of State has obtained the list from FEMA and sent out absentee voting information, but there are concerns about mail delays.

    It's a tough call. The expectation of privacy is a good argument. You wouldn't want FEMA giving the list to marketing companies seeking to exploit evacuees. On the other hand, "private" voter registration doesn't seem very "democracy-like", and candidates are dependent on access to voter registration data to run their campaigns.

    At least the Secretary of State has made an effort to reach voters. Going forward, it would seem like a good idea for FEMA to have set rules and procedures for keeping up with voters and coordinating with state election officials to keep voter registration databases up to date.

    There was also some proposed legislation a while back addressing absentee voting for Katrina evacuees, but like much of the recovery effort it doesn't seem to be going anywhere.
    posted by R. Neal at 6:10 AM | Email this post

    Wednesday, February 22, 2006

    EXCLUSIVE: House report exposed FEMA contracting, too

    When the House committee investigating Katrina released its 379-page report last week, the portions of the report savaging the government's failed relief effort made big headlines. But the report also included many smaller bombshells, including a devastating critique of FEMA's contracting operations.

    In a Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch exclusive, reporter Sean Reilly brings to light the latest revelations of cronyism and incompetence:

    FEMA's Contracting Disaster

    By SEAN REILLY
    Reconstruction Watch
    February 22, 2006

    WASHINGTON -- Understaffed, unprepared and utterly overwhelmed.

    Such was the state of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's contracting shop when Hurricane Katrina struck last August, according to a new congressional report.

    'Procurement officials acknowledged the initial contracting response was poor, with little planning and inadequate resources,' says the report, released last week by a House committee probing the response to Katrina. While the panel's findings of failures at all levels of government have gotten widespread coverage, the press has paid far less attention to an illuminating chapter on flaws in logistics and contracting operations.

    Although FEMA's 'acquisition unit' was supposed to have 55 employees, for example, only 36 of those slots were filled when Katrina hit. For more than two weeks afterward -- in what officials labeled 'the real nightmare emergency' -- FEMA generally didn't bother with written contracts for food, ice, buses and other supplies. Instead, the agency 'simply instructed companies to begin work and submit vouchers for payment,' the report says.

    With no apparent irony, the report's authors note that 'this could raise issues of enforceability' once written contracts are issued."
    You can read the rest here.
    posted by Chris Kromm at 1:25 PM | Email this post

    How popular is your senator?

    No, I'm not talking about the Senate Edition of "Hot or Not?" I'm referring to Survey USA's latest ranking of US Senators by approval ratings, released this week.

    A couple interesting findings: in this poll, only five Senators have a net-negative aproval rating (3 Republicans, 2 Democrats). The only Southerner in the bottom five is Louisiana's Mary Landrieu, who is having trouble shaking off some of her post-Katrina mis-steps.

    At the other end of the spectrum, over 50 Senators have a net approval rating of 20 points or more. 25 are loved by a 30 percent margin. Who knew?

    Republicans Warner (VA), Lott (MS), and Graham (SC) lead up the Southern delegation, and West Virginia's Democratic Duo of Rockefeller and Byrd tie for 23rd to sneak into the top 25:










    posted by Chris Kromm at 11:46 AM | Email this post

    Two great upcoming events

    If you're in North Carolina, or even nearby, come to these excellent events co-sponsored by the Institute:
    "Empowering a Progressive South, Community by Community" February 24-25. NC Central University, corner of Lawson & Fayetteville Street, Durham.
    Come to the annual conference of Students United for a Responsible Global Environment to discuss, network & strategize on progressive campaigns from voter registration & turnout to setting up sustainable communities to building multicultural alliances. Keynote speaker on Friday evening (Feb 24) is Gary Grant, a graduate of NC Central who has been devoted to racial, economic, and environmental justice for decades through leading Concerned Citizens of Tillery, NC. Contact Information: Dennis Markatos-Soriano, 919-960-6886 or surgenc@yahoo.com. You can also visit here for more info or here to register.

    "American Values Summit: Southern Voices on Faith, Politics and the Common Good" Join this important conversation on how progressives can reclaim the values debate at Duke University on Friday, March 3. The summit will bring together community members, students, & faith leaders to explore how a broader conception of morality can reshape public policy. Speakers include Rev. Jim Wallis, nationally recognized activist, editor of Sojourners Magazine, and the author of "Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It"; Rev. William J. Barber II, president of the NC NAACP and a powerful voice for social justice; and Rep. David Price (D-NC). For more information or to register on-line, visit here.

    Hope to see you there!
    posted by Chris Kromm at 9:17 AM | Email this post

    The have a PLAN

    It's official -- the Progressive Legislative Action Network is now "live." They have been methodically building for a few months -- I went to an early conference they held in Seattle last August -- and now they are making their splash with a new website and blog.

    They also have a sort-of manifesto explaining why a progressive presence is needed at the state level: "The Battle for America's States," in which long-time blogger Nathan Newman (which PLAN has brought on as Policy Director), says:
    "For the past thirty years, conservatives of different stripes have had their efforts clearly coordinated with a long-term strategy in mind," says Nathan Newman, PLAN's Policy Director and Author of the Report. "The resulting policies in the states -- whether handouts to corporations, wedge issues to pit progressives against eachother, or structural plans to weaken progressive institutions -- are not an accident, but the result of years of engineering by powerful interests."
    Newman -- who has a rich backround in labor organizing, public interest law, and progressive policy advocacy -- was an excellent choice and is a good sign for where PLAN is headed. Watch this group -- out of the various groups being erected as part of the "new progressive infrastructure," this one is going to be making a difference.
    posted by Chris Kromm at 7:09 AM | Email this post

    Tuesday, February 21, 2006

    Louisiana Gov. Blanco reveals rebuilding plan

    There appear to be a number of plans and proposals, but not much action yet. Here's the latest plan:
    Gov. Kathleen Blanco outlined a $7.5 billion plan to help Louisiana residents rebuild, repair or sell their hurricane-damaged homes, although uncertainties remain about whether Congress will provide the money and which state agency will distribute it.

    [..]

    Assistance would be capped at a maximum $150,000 per homeowner under the proposal. But direct relief is still months away, and homeowners receiving the aid could be taking on more debt to rebuild.

    The draft faces scrutiny from local officials, state lawmakers and the affected residents; and it depends in large part on federal dollars awaiting congressional approval.

    The plan would provide money to repair or rebuild damaged homes and to relocate people who want to build elsewhere in Louisiana. For those who don't want to relocate or rebuild in Louisiana, the plan would buy them out at 60 percent of the pre-storm home value.

    [..]

    An estimated 128,000 owner-occupied homes had major damage by the storms and 210,000 more received minor damage, according to Blanco's Louisiana Recovery Authority.
    According to the article, there are no restrictions on what neighborhoods would be eligible, but construction under the program would be subject to new federal building codes that "haven't been finalized", which some residents worry might "price them out of rebuilding." The article also says that anyone rebuilding in the flood plain would be required to buy flood insurance, which could pose another economic barrier. The article also explains various other limitations, deductibles, and conditions, some relating to previous FEMA or insurance payouts.

    There's no mention if this is being coordinated with the Bring Back New Orleans Commission, or how it fits the various urban planning concepts proposed in their initial report, or whether a proposed Crescent City Recovery Corporation would control the funds as recommended by the Commission.

    With no restrictions by neighborhood, Blanco's plan does seem to be in conflict with the most controversial part of the BBNO plan, which would require each neighborhood to make a case for rebuilding and present a plan to the commission. It also called for a four-month moratorium on building permits. Some critics view these provisions as a play by Mayor Nagin and developers (one of whom is on the Commission) to freeze out Lower 9th Ward residents and set up a land grab.
    posted by R. Neal at 8:53 AM | Email this post

    Katrina: Bush's #1 vulnerable spot

    Political Wire relays this interesting information:
    "Among the many controversies surrounding the Bush Administration, its response to Hurricane Katrina is most troubling to voters," according to a new WNBC/Marist poll.

    The survey found that 66% of registered voters nationwide "are bothered a great deal or a good amount by the administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina. Although Democrats are most critical, 64% of independents and 42% of Republicans are bothered by how the administration handled the disaster."

    The second most troubling is the Bush administration's wiretapping of Americans without a warrant, with 50% bothered a great deal or good amount.
    Question: If Katrina is Bush's #1 vulnerability, why aren't Democrats making Katrina their #1 issue?
    posted by Chris Kromm at 8:23 AM | Email this post

    Public land sale follow up...

    As a follow up to Chris's post yesterday about the Bush administration's Spring Clearance Sale of National Forest land, blogger Steve at WhitesCreek Journal has uncovered something completely outrageous. He also has a link to a state-by-state breakdown of the public land Bush proposes to sell off.
    posted by R. Neal at 7:47 AM | Email this post

    Senate Dems block Bush/GOP insider nominees for TVA board

    (Ed. note: this is cross-posted from my KnoxViews blog because it should be getting wider coverage)

    In huge news that is not getting any coverage, Senate Democrats have taken a stand against White House cronyism and one-party GOP government.

    A while back, Sen. Bill Frist ushered through legislation to expand the Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors and appoint a first-ever CEO to oversee operations. The intent was to run the giant federal utility more like a business and less like a government within a government with no elected officials.

    The problem is that all six new Bush nominees are unqualified GOP insiders with little or no utility experience. And the current chairman, Bill Baxter, who was recently appointed to that post by Bush, is already a generous Bush/GOP supporter.

    But the fact that they aren't qualified isn't what got the Senate Dem's panties in a bunch. This Knoxville News Sentinel exclusive article (registration required) explains:

    Senate Democrats Friday blocked approval of six nominees to the Tennessee Valley Authority's board of directors and said President Bush and Senate Republicans are "trying to stack" the nine-member board just with Republicans.

    The six were denied a final Senate vote under an open-ended procedural move that could extend beyond the current recess and well past the Senate's next series of votes starting Feb. 28.

    "All we're asking for is a guarantee of one Democratic nominee, and to date they have been unwilling to provide those assurances," said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

    It's not a filibuster of a Bush Supreme Court Nominee, but it's pretty huge, and a nice battle for Senate Dems to pick.

    Why?

    TVA is one of the nation's largest electric utilities. It is a quasi-federal agency that operates in seven Southern states. It serves more than 8 million people and generates approx. $7 billion in revenues. It operates a system of hydroelectric dams, nuclear power plants, and fossil fuel facilities including 11 coal-fired power plants. Their operations have a significant impact on the diverse economy of the Tennessee Valley and surrounding states.

    They are a huge consumer of coal and natural gas. They are also one of the worst polluters in the South. Their coal-fired power plants are some of the dirtiest in the nation, and they have a long history fighting EPA regulation of coal fired power plant emissions.

    Earlier in the nomination process, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) threatened to hold up the nominations if Bush didn't nominate somebody from Georgia, where TVA operates. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Isakson introduced a bill that would require representation from each of the seven states in TVA's service area. This bill quietly went away and the nominations proceeded. Maybe they got called on Sen. Dr. Frist's carpet.

    This week, noting that there were no minority nominees (hey, we already mentioned they are all GOP insiders, right?) a Knoxville News Sentinel editorial (registration required) called for a minority appointment. That didn't go anywhere, either.

    So, the six nominees sailed through committee, and Dr. Sen. Frist virtually guaranteed confirmation in the full Senate. With this most recent setback, now Sen. Dr. Frist is complaining about "obstruction" and the usually reasonable Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), a longtime defender of the environment, accused Senate Dems of "playing politics."

    I don't know where the Senate Dems finally found their backbone, or why they picked this particular battle. Maybe they are testing the waters off the national media radar. Whatever the reason, it's a far more important battle than the coverage it's getting would suggest.

    If nothing else, the TVA board's policies and decisions have an enormous impact on the environment and affect the health and welfare of millions of people. It only seems reasonable for the board to have more diverse, experienced, and open-minded (and yes, bi-partisan) representation. That's not "playing politics". It's just common sense, and the right thing to do.

    OK, then.

    (P.S. Lest anyone think I'm delusional, I realize the nominations will go through once trading resumes. But it was a nice gesture.)

    posted by R. Neal at 7:37 AM | Email this post

    New emails: Bush had no problems with Brown

    "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." These were the immortal words used by President Bush on September 2, 2005 to describe FEMA director Michael Brown's handling of Hurricane Katrina.

    Bush's enthusiastic "thumbs-up" was shocking at the time, coming a full five days after Katrina struck and the horrors of the failed relief effort had been revealed for all to see.

    Bush's comment was greeted with a torrent of ridicule. But according to a new batch of email correspondence released by Brown's office, as much as four days after the endorsement mocked around the world and a week and a half after the storm, Bush still didn't have a bad word to say about Brown. According to Newsweek:
    By the following Tuesday, Sept. 6, the post-Katrina backlash was in full frenzy and Brown realized his job was in jeopardy. At 8:32 a.m., Clay Johnson III, a longtime Bush aide, e-mailed Brown. "What a great opportunity for every cheap-shot artist in the world to take a free swing at you and the president." Brown replied, "Yes ... And if [Bush] doesn't have confidence in me -- which is understandable considering the circumstances -- let me know. I will readily step aside." Johnson's reply: "I've not heard one person here disparage you [sic] work. I'll keep you informed."
    posted by Chris Kromm at 7:02 AM | Email this post

    Monday, February 20, 2006

    Selling a forest near you

    With the cost of the Iraq war skyrocketing -- and the government hamstrung by massive tax cuts for the rich -- President Bush has come across a quaint way to bring in some spare change: selling off public forests.

    State leaders are now scrambling to see what natural treasures in their area are on the auction block. Here's a report from Florida:
    President Bush's 2007 budget proposal suggests putting 973 acres of the Ocala National Forest up for sale as part of an initiative to raise up to $800 million for a federal program that helps fund schools and roads in counties with federal forest land.

    Up to 300,000 of the 193 million acres of federal forest land nationally could go up for sale if Congress approves the plan, said Denise Raines, spokeswoman for the Tallahassee office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.

    "Quite frankly, our piece of the pie is quite small compared to other states in our region," she said. "Georgia has over 4,000 acres."
    Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) question whether this is an effective deficit-cutting strategy:
    "The administration has raised a huge deficit. It is a $2.5 to $3 trillion budget and selling off acreage on lakes in the Ocala National Forest is not a solution to the budget crisis."
    Charles Lee of Florida Audubon happens to agree:
    "To have a fire sale of environmentally sensitive land to try and generate money for the national budget is just nuts."
    What's next, putting "Cut the Deficit" lemonade stands on every corner?

    (Hat tip to FLA Politics)
    posted by Chris Kromm at 1:52 PM | Email this post

    New Fed Reserve Chair: Higher minimum wage OK

    Building on the successful 2004 ballot initiative in Florida, advocates for workers are pushing to pass minimum wages increases across the country, including here in North Carolina. 17 states have already boosted their state minimum pay above the federal standard, which hasn't changed since 1997 and, thanks to inflation, is worth less than it did in 1955.

    Those who oppose a minimum wage hike -- business interests and their allies -- don't like them because they cut into profit margins. But the public reason they give for opposing an increase is because the claim higher costs will "destroy jobs."

    But David Sirota points to an interesting exchange last week between Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and new Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in his testimony to the House Financial Services Committee:
    SANDERS: Chairman Bernanke, should the Congress raise the minimum wage so that every worker in America who works 40 hours a week escapes from poverty? A very simple question, sir.

    BERNANKE: I'm going to be an economist and give you the one hand, the other hand. On the minimum wage, it's actually a very controversial issue among economists. Clearly, if you raise the minimum wage, then those workers who retain their jobs will get higher income and therefore it helps them. The concerns that some economists have raised about the minimum wage are first, is it as well targeted as it could be? That is, how much of the increase is going to the teenage children of suburban families, for example? And secondly, does it have any employment effects? That is, do higher wages lower employment of low-wage workers?

    SANDERS: And your response is?

    BERNANKE: My response is that I think it doesn't lower employment.
    posted by Chris Kromm at 10:47 AM | Email this post

    The great Bush library land grab

    Four Texas universities are fighting to host the George W. Bush Presidential Library. And although three of them are religious schools, it appears they may be using un-Christian means to win the honor, according to the New York Sun:
    DALLAS - The school favored to host the George W. Bush Presidential Library, Dallas's Southern Methodist University, may encounter a snag next week in the form of a lawsuit alleging that the school has improperly seized local homes in order to secure land for the proposed library site.

    Amid increasing outrage among Republicans over the use of eminent domain and other coercive measures to obtain private property for public projects, a case in Dallas County's 134th Civil District Court, which is set to begin on Tuesday, will determine whether the university violated its legal obligations to local homeowners in an effort to secure the land currently occupied by the University Gardens condominium complex, a potential library site.
    Gary Vodicka, a nearby property owner involved in the lawsuit, finds ironies abound:
    "To acquire the land to build the Bush Library they have breached numerous legal obligations, they've intimidated, misrepresented things, kicked old people out of their homes," said Mr. Vodicka, who owns four units in the complex. "It's amazing to see how ruthless a Christian university can be."

    "They want to take my home," he added, saying it was paradoxical that "homesteads" would be seized for the library of a Republican president. "It's in the spirit of all this eminent domain crap ... Where's the notion of private property in this country?"
    I contacted a Dallas acquaintance this morning to see what she knew about the situation, and this was her only comment:
    They're snatching up people's houses to make room for Bush's library? I mean, how many buildings will they really need?
    (Hat tip to Arkansas Daily Blog)
    posted by Chris Kromm at 6:45 AM | Email this post

    Saturday, February 18, 2006

    10 days until Mardi Gras

    Do you want to show solidarity with the people of New Orleans? Next week, all eyes will be on the city as it celebrates Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, on Tuesday the 28th. It's the perfect day to do something to celebrate one of our national treasures and support a better future for the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast.

    Last month, New Orleans native Michael Tisserand -- former editor of Gambit Weekly and a member of the Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch team -- issued a call for a National Mardi Gras. You can read Michael's Mardi Gras manifesto here. He said he got lots of responses, but the logistical task of pulling together a national event was just too much.

    Instead, we're asking people to honor the occasion in their own way at the local level. There are countless things you can do:

    - Throw a house party.
    - Have a moment of silence.
    - Send some money to one of the great groups working in New Orleans for a "just reconstruction" (later this week, we'll be posting a list of groups we've met with that are doing great work).
    - Find hurricane survivors in your area and support their efforts to get the help they need and be heard.
    - Call your Congressional delegation and demand that, at a bare minimum, they carry out the platform in Tisserand's statement.

    Just do SOMETHING. The people of New Orleans need to know the nation hasn't forgotten about them. And this is the perfect way to show solidarity, and have some fun.
    posted by Chris Kromm at 11:45 AM | Email this post

    Friday, February 17, 2006

    Follow-up questions on the Katrina report

    A number of readers have written to ask about our reaction to the 379-page House report on Katrina released last Wednesday. I've been slowly sifting through the details of the report, and here are some brief thoughts and reactions:

    1) Why does Michael Chertoff still have a job? The Department of Homeland Security is singled out in the report, and Chertoff and the administration have accepted a degree of responsibility. But where's the accountability, in the form of consequences? As Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) says:
    "The failings of the department are ultimately [Homeland Security Secretary Michael] Chertoff’s fault," said Thompson, one of several Democrats who would like to see Chertoff fired. "As the report said, there was a failure of his leadership. He was strongly detached ... "Now, after the fact, the secretary is saying that the department will put the systems in place to ensure that such a catastrophe does not happen again. Now he’s saying he’ll buy the equipment…It should have been in place already."
    2) Why the focus on just the botched relief effort? There were a series of problems that led to Katrina's destruction, most notably the failure of federal levees that flooded 80% of New Orleans. The Army Corps of Engineers and the failed levee system are barely mentioned.

    3) Why no focus on the rebuilding failure? The report is mostly about assessing blame for the failed relief effort. But what about the failed rebuilding effort? In our trip to New Orleans last week, we travelled through miles of the city that have no water, electricity or medical care. Only 15% of the schools have re-opened. Most of the jobs haven't come back. Vast areas of the city are polluted and the EPA hasn't offered any plan to clean it up.

    This is the larger tragedy of Katrina, and the reason why thousands of people are deciding they might never return. But the House committee didn't want to go there, because it would imply a criticism of their foot-dragging and numbers-rigging in delivering Katrina aid.

    4) Good news: the report is getting results. There is no doubt that without the House report, Bush would not have sent his $19.8 billion "hurricane recovery package" to Congress yesterday. And -- credit where it's due -- there are some good pieces in the package:
    Bush's proposal would provide new money for uninsured flood victims in Louisiana and almost $1.5 billion to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to strengthen New Orleans' levees and restore Louisiana wetlands.

    It asks Congress for $3.1 billion to repair federal buildings - including a veterans' hospital in New Orleans - and restore shipyards and national parks in Mississippi and Louisiana.

    It also would provide $1.3 billion to the Small Business Administration, which ran out of money to give hurricane victims low-interest loans, and $9.4 billion to replenish the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund.

    It's too late, and pales in comparison to the bloated $72 billion+ Bush is asking for war. And it clearly is an attempt to save face in the wake of damaging criticism from his own party.

    But at this point, people in the Gulf will take it.

    posted by Chris Kromm at 2:05 PM | Email this post

    Stories you might have missed during "hunting-gate"

    The news cycle this week was dominated by our unlucky Vice President's attempt to give hunting partner Harry Wittington an Extreme Makeover with a few shotgun pellets. The blogs and talk shows have fallen in line with endless speculation about why Cheney shot him (was he drunk? popping pills?) and his reluctance to come clean (was there another body involved? maybe Karl Rove took a shot, too?).

    Believe me, this issue is a non-starter outside the D.C. beltway, especially in "hook and bullet" states in the South. Hunting mishaps, while never a proud moment for those involved, aren't exactly unusual (when liberals say that "only 30 accidents have happened in Texas in the last year," as David Corn proudly claimed on the Diane Rehm show today, they reveal a profound ignorance about the role sheepishness plays in the under-reporting of hunting follies).

    Cheney's misfire makes for a good laugh, but liberals haven't been doing themselves any favors by taking it too far. It's also pulling them way off message for the headlines that REALLY needed hammering over the past week. To take a few at random:

    ITEM: U.S. Has Royalty Plan to Give Windfall to Oil Companies: "The federal government is on the verge of one of the biggest giveaways of oil and gas in American history, worth an estimated $7 billion over five years." (NY Times, 2/13)

    ITEM: Greenland ice cap breaking up at twice the rate it was five years ago, says scientist Bush tried to gag: The Drudge Report has made a bigger deal out of this horrifying news than liberal websites. (Independent [UK], 2/17)

    ITEM: Marriage Plays Starring Role in Politics… Again: The right is gearing up to make same-sex marriage a wedge issue in 2006, which "could be critical in states where there will be contested national races for governor or the U.S. Senate -- such as Tennessee, Wisconsin and Illinois." The Democrats are taking a bury-your-head-in-the-sand-and-hope-the-issue-disappears approach. (NPR, 2/15 -- thanks to Pam Spaulding for keeping the spotlight on this)

    ITEM: The House committee's report on Katrina is now available -- all 379 pages (pdf) and 141 appendices (pdf) -- conluding the Katrina response was disasterously "late, uncertain and ineffective." Why does Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff still have a job, and why isn't everyone demanding he step down for such failures? And what about the 12,000 families evicted from their temporary housing this week?

    I could go on, but you get the point. This is the stuff that will have impact in real-world politics outside of Washington.
    posted by Chris Kromm at 10:40 AM | Email this post

    Friday Bird Blogging



    A Dark-eyed Junco, I think, enjoying the snow at Tremont in the Great Smoky Mountains this past weekend.
    posted by R. Neal at 7:46 AM | Email this post

    Thursday, February 16, 2006

    Krewe du Vieux takes on Carnival

    Driving through New Orleans, it's clear that people are determined to celebrate Carnival as speed towards Fat Tuesday on February 28. The Carnival group getting the most attention this year is Krewe du Vieux, a descendent of a 1978 krewe, du Vieux is known for its biting social commentary.

    Th King of Krewe du Vieux this year is none other than Walter Williams, the creator of "Mr. Bill" of Saturday Night Live fame. Everyone agrees that Williams was the perfect choice, especially given his long-time environmental advocacy in the city (see his excellent documentary, "New Orleans: The Natural History").

    To give you a taste of Krewe du Vieux's take on things, here's a prominent sign one of their floats this year:
    FEMA Says Beads are On the Way
    Gotta love it. For a complete overview of this year's Carnival and Mardi Gras, Gambit Weekly's famous parade critic Rex Duke has a good run-down.
    posted by Chris Kromm at 10:12 AM | Email this post

    Unintended consequences of incompetence?

    Reading DHS Secretary Chertoff's remarks about not having the logistics to track relief supplies (see previous post) made me wonder about something.

    It made me wonder if, after hearing report after report of such things as ice and water and other supplies on semi-trucks being routed all over the country and never reaching their intended recipients, thousands of people stranded at the Convention Center without food or water or medical supplies for days, unused temporary housing trailers sinking into the Arkansas mud, MREs and other supplies being looted and sold on eBay, while knowing there was an enormous, unprecedented, even historic outpouring of support, volunteers, aid, supplies, and money from the American people and from all over the world, if America and the world will be so generous or so quick to offer aid the next time around?

    In other words, has the DHS/FEMA response destroyed whatever confidence the public might have had in society's ability to help one another in a disaster? Will we just throw up our hands now and say it's hopeless? I hope not.

    It also makes me wonder if it isn't all just part of The Plan, similar to cutting off funding for public education, health care, entitlement programs, etc. etc. to "get the Federal government off our backs, out of our lives, and out of our pocketbooks." If so, The Architects of The Plan ought to go back and take a look at the Cable TeeVee news footage from the New Orleans Convention Center for a preview of what America will look like in the end. Or maybe that's what they want. It's hard to tell these days.
    posted by R. Neal at 9:36 AM | Email this post

    Chertoff: Feels really bad about what happened

    Adopting the Bush administration's apparent new line of defense against charges of poor judgment and incompetence, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says Katrina was "one of the most difficult and traumatic experiences of my life." This is sure to gain sympathy from the residents of the Lower 9th Ward.

    According to the article, Chertoff also testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that "Our logistics capability in Katrina was woefully inadequate. I was astonished to see we didn't have the capability most 21st-century corporations have to track the flow of goods and services." If the guy in charge doesn't know, who is supposed to?

    He also blames "Mr. Brown's agenda" for some of the problems, but says he will fix DHS and FEMA before the next hurricane season begins. With leadership like this up and down the line, some might have a hard time believing that to be possible. Especially in light of past performance.
    posted by R. Neal at 9:09 AM | Email this post

    Wednesday, February 15, 2006

    Exclusive: Medical system for disasters in shambles

    We have a new exclusive report up at Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch. D.C.-based reporter Sean Reilly reports on the government's incompetent use of health care professionals during the storms of 2005.

    As Reilly reports, the failures of our disaster medical system have been brewing for a while, and starkly revealed during Katrina. This isn't just about assessing blame in the past -- it's a critical issue our country will face again during the 2006 hurricane season (just four months away!) and other disasters.

    Here's the report:
    U.S. Disaster Medical System Is Ailing

    By SEAN REILLY
    Reconstruction Watch
    February 14, 2006

    Like millions of Americans, Dr. Eva Briggs was deeply moved by the devastation inflicted by Hurricane Katrina. Unlike many, the family physician from Syracuse, N.Y. had much-needed skills to offer the relief effort.

    By Briggs' account, what she got in return was a dispiriting two-week stint in Louisiana that felt more like an inept public relations exercise than a mission of mercy. Four years after 9/11, her experience illustrates the disorganization that continues to hobble the federal medical strategy for confronting large-scale disasters.

    Briggs' own involvement stemmed from a first-time attempt by the Department of Health and Human Services to make use of thousands of health care professionals clamoring to help. But once Briggs hit the ground in Louisiana, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was in charge, with underwhelming results. So far, there appears to have been no independent critique of how the experiment panned out.

    Late last year, however, congressional Democrats concluded that another element in the government's response to catastrophe is in critical condition: the National Disaster Medical System, a 22-year-old program that deploys paid teams to stricken areas. Despite often heroic work by doctors and other emergency responders, "their individual efforts cannot overcome the systemic problems undermining NDMS effectiveness," according to the report by the House Government Reform Committee's Democratic staff.

    If that conclusion is open to charges of partisan ax-grinding, some health care professionals share it. They blame the problems on under-funding. "Over time, the whole system has deteriorated," said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. But in his budget for the coming fiscal year, President Bush proposes giving the system just $34 million, only a fraction more than it received in 2005.
    You can read the rest at the Watch website.
    posted by Chris Kromm at 8:29 AM | Email this post

    Tuesday, February 14, 2006

    Some good news from New Orleans

    New Orleans' Tulane Hospital Reopens:
    Tulane University Hospital, which sustained more than $90 million in damage from Hurricane Katrina, reopened its emergency room, several operating rooms and some beds Tuesday at an exuberant, pep rally-style ceremony.

    [..]

    Katrina forced the closing of nine of the metropolitan area's 16 hospitals, including 270-year-old Charity Hospital, which for generations was the safety net of the city's poorest people.

    With Tulane partially open, there are now two emergency rooms within New Orleans' city limits.
    Nice to hear some good news for a change. The fact that it took six months to get the hospital partially reopend, and that there are still only two functioning ERs in the city should give you some idea of the scope of the disaster and the task ahead.
    posted by R. Neal at 1:40 PM | Email this post

    More revelations of Massive Federal Incompetence

    Chris posted yesterday that forced evictions have begun for thousands of Katrina evacuees previously being housed in hotels and motels after FEMA cut off any further funding. He also mentioned the Hope Arkansas trailers.

    The New York Times has more on the trailers today. While 12,000 families are being evicted, and tens of thousands more are in need of housing, it seems there are nearly 10,000 trailers purchased at a cost of nearly $1 billion deteriorating in a muddy field in Arkansas:
    Only about 2,700 of the 25,000 mobile homes ordered at a cost of $850 million have been installed, and at least 10,000 are sitting in Hope, Ark., according to documents and statements from Federal Emergency Management Agency officials. Though about 55,000 Louisiana families are still waiting for a manufactured housing unit, the mobile homes may never be used because FEMA regulations prohibit them from being installed in flood-prone coastal areas, federal officials said.

    [..]

    In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA ordered far too many mobile homes and too few travel trailers, which are smaller, less expensive and more portable, and can be placed on lots in the disaster zone. The federal government had expected that Louisiana officials would identify sites inland where the mobile homes could be placed. But so far, with just a few exceptions, they has not done so, officials said.

    "If sites for those mobile homes are not approved in Louisiana, it is possible they will never be used for hurricane relief," said Nicol Andrews, a FEMA spokesman.
    The article says the trailers are sinking in the mud, warping, losing parts, and being cannibalized, and that they will probably have to be sold off as surplus at a fraction of their original cost. The dispute over where to put the trailers involves FEMA's own rules, the same FEMA that ordered the trailers. Unbelievable.

    Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports more massive fraud in Katrina relief efforts:
    The extent of the fraud in the $6 billion evacuee-assistance effort has not been calculated, but it could reach hundreds of millions of dollars, investigators told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and it appears that the losses were limited only by the thieves' ingenuity.

    "It was a mess. It was a system that was wide open to fraud," said Gregory D. Kutz, who led the investigation for the Government Accountability Office. "All you had to do was call FEMA on the telephone and lie and you could get money. It was just a question of how many people were willing to make false statements."

    The report came amid a stream of revelations yesterday regarding questionable activity during the relief effort -- including $438-a-night lodging in New York, emergency meals being sold on eBay, and emergency checks being used to buy adult entertainment and weapons.
    [..]

    Investigators said that so far they have learned that about 1,000 people who applied for aid used the Social Security numbers of dead people, 1,000 used numbers that were never issued, and tens of thousands used names, birthdates and Social Security numbers that did not match.

    In one case cited by the GAO report, for example, one person used 15 Social Security numbers to submit 15 applications over the phone and received payments totaling $41,000, including 13 emergency-assistance payments, two payments for temporary housing assistance and a payment of $10,500.
    FEMA says they didn't want to slow down the process of getting people aid by enforcing more extensive verification of claims, and that they are now going back to investigate suspected cases of fraud after the fact. That almost sounds reasonable, and may be one of the few times they actually tried to do the right thing by people.

    But each new revelation paints a picture of a disorganized response by a "dysfunctional" agency now scrambling to make excuses for their incompetence and mismanagement. After all this, how can Americans have confidence in the Department of Homeland Security? Heaven forbid there is another Katrina-scale disaster, or a terrorist attack, before it can be fixed.
    posted by R. Neal at 9:43 AM | Email this post

    Monday, February 13, 2006

    BREAKING: Evictions begin for hurricane victims

    FEMA had planned to stop paying for hotel bills for 12,000 victims of Hurricane Katrina today, and a last-ditch attempt by attorneys to get (another) stay has failed, the AP reports:
    A judge turned aside a last-minute attempt today to force the federal government to continue paying directly for hotel rooms of 12,000 families made homeless by last year’s hurricanes [...]

    Attorneys for the evacuees tried unsuccessfully to get U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval to issue a temporary restraining order aimed at forcing FEMA to continue the direct hotel payments. The lawyers argued the forthcoming money from FEMA will not be enough for reasonable living accommodations or for continued hotel stays.

    The decision would result in 8,000 to 10,000 families being put out of hotels across the United States on Monday, said Tracie Washington, an attorney representing evacuees. Many of those families began packing their bags and checking out of hotels as early as late Monday morning.

    “These folks are out on the streets today because the federal government, President Bush and everyone else made the decision that it’s time for these families to go,” said Bill Quigley, another lawyer for the evacuees.

    Quigley said most of the people have yet to receive trailers and checks for temporary aid. "These people are going to be homeless. We’ve heard from a lot of people who are going to be sleeping in their cars," Quigley said.
    Quigley (an advisor to our Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch project) has a good point about the trailers. While thousands are on the waiting list, news surfaced last week that 10,770 trailers are sitting unused in Hope, Arkansas because officials got the