Archive for the 'Hurricane Katrina' Category

After Hurricane Katrina, President Bush and Vice President Cheney stopped by for a few photo-ops, then quickly quickly forgot about place. The national news media lost interest, and so did John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and just about every other politician who wasn’t from Louisiana. But Barack Obama never forgot about the people of New Orleans, and he continues to push for a comprehensive recovery plan, affordable housing, and an investigation into FEMA’s toxic trailers.

…but you’ll be happy to know that the company in charge of distributing the money is enjoying record profits.

Privatization rulez!!!

…that the trailers they issued to victims of Hurricane Katrina had dangerous levels of formaldehyde.

In New Orleans, a lot of people are upset with State Farm

Oy. Looks like State Farm might be in some trouble:

Attorneys for homeowners suing State Farm Insurance Cos. after Hurricane Katrina have long accused the insurer of pressuring engineers to alter reports on storm-damaged homes so that policyholders’ claims could be denied. Now, some of these lawyers claim they have evidence to prove their allegation — internal e-mails from an engineering firm that helped State Farm adjust claims after the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane destroyed thousands of homes on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

State Farm denies pressuring engineers to change their conclusions, but the e-mails, obtained Tuesday and Wednesday by The Associated Press, indicate the company was threatening to dismiss Raleigh, N.C.-based Forensic Analysis & Engineering Corp. less than two months after Katrina.

The e-mails exchanged between Forensic president and CEO Robert Kochan and Randy Down, the firm’s vice president of engineering services, outline complaints against their firm’s work from Alexis King, a State Farm manager in Mississippi. In an email dated Oct. 18, 2005, Down questioned the insurer’s motivations and questioned if there was an ethical problem with State Farm telling the firm what to put in reports. He also suggested that on another occasion, State Farm asked the firm to remove information from a report because “they would then have to settle.”

Here’s my quick guide to help you think like a State Farm insurance adjuster:

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New Orleans residents find little comfort in Bush’s reappearance

President Bush will return to New Orleans on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, part of a two day photo-op in the Gulf region. Tomorrow, Bush will resume his vacation.

A year ago, the president and most of his cabinet were on vacation. Vice President Cheney was in Wyoming, Secretary of State Rice was buying shoes, and President Bush was hugging Senator John McCain during a birthday celebration. Meanwhile, more than 1,800 Americans were dying.

One senior adminstration official was working: chief domestic policy advisor Karl Rove. Of course, he wasn’t working on formulating a policy to help evacuate or rebuild the Gulf Coast. He was in Crawford, thanking the people who had come to tell Cindy Sheehan to go home and forget that she ever had a son.

A year ago, President Bush pledged to rebuild the area, and he repeated his promise yesterday:

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Generalissimo Blanco announces martial law

After a series of shocking murders, Governor Blanco has ordered to Louisiana National Guard into New Orleans to restore order in deserted areas of the city. Blanco also urged Mayor Nagin to enforce a juvenile curfew. 300 National Guard troops will patrol the city, assisted by state police units.

As the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, many parts of the city remain destroyed and deserted. A large influx of federal money was recently approved, but there is no plan as to how to spend it:

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New Orleans still needs help

Now that the national spotlight shifted away from New Orleans, FEMA has used the lack of media oversight to allow all sorts of mischief to occur in the reconstruction process. Fortunately for us, Moldy City has continued to monitor the situation.

One recent report illustrates the extent to which we’ve been deceived with regard to reconstruction efforts. The “temporary” trailers used to house workers and those who lost their homes, and the 18 month contracts for the trailer parks have been extended to 5 years. Also, companies awarded reconstruction contracts aren’t being held to provisions that require them to subcontract some of the work to local small businesses.

The lack of concern that our government is showing our fellow Americans is appalling. Large-scale efforts like rebuilding a destroyed city require federal action and funding, but the response by the Bush administration has been derelict. But can anyone really say that this comes as a surprise?

Corrupton taints Red Cross Katrina effort

The Red Cross fired two administrators accused of diverting relief supplies meant for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Sources for the New York Times identified longtime volunteer Patrick Keena as one of the volunteers dismissed for possible corruption. Volunteer Jill Paul also left the organization abrubtly, but the Times was unable to confirm whether she was one of the two dismissed for mishandling relief supplies. Both Keena and Paul held high-level supervisory positions.

Relief supplies, including food for more than 1,000 meals per day, were earmarked for neighborhoods where they were not needed. The Red Cross has not had enough resources to deal with the disaster, and has taken on debt to help cover costs.

Initially, reports of mishandled supplies were ignored, and in some cases the whistleblowers were dismissed. Jerome H. Nickerson Jr. and Michael A. Wolters, who wrote the report recommending that the supervisors in New Orleans be removed, said they were relieved of their responsibilities.

Is Bush being kept away from the controls?

Some of President Bush’s statement have led observers to wonder how firmly he grasps the reins of the executive branch. For example, take this statement concerning the nearly 11,000 trailersbought by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that currently sit unoccupied in an Arkansas field:

Obviously, there are some times when government bureaucracies haven’t responded the way we wanted them to, and like citizens, you know, I don’t like that at all. I mean, I think, for example, of the trailers sitting down in Arkansas. Like many citizens, they’re wondering why they’re down there, you know. How come we’ve got 11,000?

So I’ve asked Chertoff to find out. What are you going to do with them? I mean, the taxpayers aren’t interested in 11,000 trailers just sitting there. Do something with them. And so I share that sense of frustration when a big government is unable to, you know — sends wrong signals to taxpayers. But our people are good, hardworking people.

Perhaps it would be more productive to exert some control over FEMA, instead of complaining about Big Government. After he’s done that, maybe Bush can contemplate the irony of whining about the government he runs having too much power and too many resources to cope with large-scale challenges.

(via Baxpress)

Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi prepare to square off over funding

Moldy City has an analysis of the ongoing battle for hurricane reconstruction funds. The states seem resigned to the idea that federal government will not fully fund reconstruction, and are attempting to secure as much funding as they can, even at the expense of other Gulf states.