Hey, we're over here! [message #55405] |
Sat, 05 August 2006 08:58 ![Go to next message Go to next message](/forum/theme/AudioRoundTable/images/down.png) |
wunhuanglo
Messages: 912 Registered: May 2009
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Illuminati (2nd Degree) |
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A DAY TO FORGET? Congress doesn't bother to go through the motions to mark Katrina's anniversary Saturday, August 05, 2006 By Bill WalshWASHINGTON -- In the week before leaving for summer vacation, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to honor bicyclists, a college fraternity and a retired baseball pitcher, but it failed to go on record noting the upcoming anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the most expensive natural disaster in the nation's history. Kevin Madden, a spokesman for House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said no slight was intended. "The language is still being worked on," Madden said. "We're looking for agreement on that. There are a lot of discussions still going on." Maybe the House just ran out of time, Madden suggested. The majority leader's spokesman noted that lawmakers were very busy in the final week considering a minimum-wage increase, estate tax repeal and pension reform. But resolutions aren't usually time-consuming affairs. Before leaving, the House quickly passed resolutions expressing support for Hire a Veteran Week and National Bike Month. It also took time to urge states to make sure that driver's license applicants "exercise greatly increased caution" when motoring near a "potentially visually impaired individual." The House zips right along when it wants to. It took only a minute to mark the 100th anniversary of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and three minutes to designate the official American Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo. The House got bogged down for seven minutes on a resolution commemorating the 1946 season of Hall of Fame Pitcher Bob Feller. The marathon debate was mostly because the sponsor, Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, spent time recounting the many noteworthy accomplishments of the former Cleveland Indian, such as the time "Bullet Bob" threw a fastball clocked at 109 mph."
Apparently Democrats favored "Whoa, dude, it sucks to be you" while Republicans favored the more impersonal "Really? Sorry to hear about that".
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Re: Hey, we're over here! [message #55408 is a reply to message #55405] |
Sat, 05 August 2006 13:55 ![Go to previous message Go to previous message](/forum/theme/AudioRoundTable/images/up.png) ![Go to next message Go to next message](/forum/theme/AudioRoundTable/images/down.png) |
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Wayne Parham
Messages: 18752 Registered: January 2001
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Illuminati (33rd Degree) |
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Apparently Democrats favored "Whoa, dude, it sucks to be you" while Republicans favored the more impersonal "Really? Sorry to hear about that". God, Charlie, you're killing me! ![](http://www.audioroundtable.com/emoticons/laughie.gif) On a serious note, there are still hundreds of thousands of displaced New Orleans residents in Texas and Oklahoma; I think the number is something like 200,000 in Houston alone. So the disruption is still huge. How did you make out?
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Re: Hey, we're over here! [message #55410 is a reply to message #55407] |
Sun, 06 August 2006 00:30 ![Go to previous message Go to previous message](/forum/theme/AudioRoundTable/images/up.png) ![Go to next message Go to next message](/forum/theme/AudioRoundTable/images/down.png) |
wunhuanglo
Messages: 912 Registered: May 2009
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Illuminati (2nd Degree) |
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Well, things are pretty much OK Uptown (they didn't flood there) if you can avoid the rampant lead poisoning, but the utilities are still frequently disrupted. It's rather a misconception about "all the money" - virtually none of the, what $80 some odd billion? has actually arrived here. SBA won't approve any loans (I know people who've been trying to get their business reopened since January - SBA says they qualify for $350K, but the check's always in the mail. Insurance companies other than State Farm are only paying a fraction unless you take them to court. Much of the $80B is payout for flood policies, but the Gov't takes credit for that since it's subsidized. Trouble is, not subsidized enough apparently since many, many claims still haven't been paid. In the city there's a some of gutting of houses, but a lot is done by non-profits and volunteers - not much reconstruction. Most of the 150,000 flooded cars were still in the streets a month ago, along with a lot of boats. Stores and restuarants close very early, some places close mid-day because of utility interruptions. A lot of it falls under the rubric of economic justice since the poor can't get back here, never mind fight the system. They talk about all the people who've returned to the city but I think many, maybe even most, are itinerant labor looking to cash in. You can still drive for miles and see nothing but rot, not even stray dogs. I wouldn't think of it as a vaction place for quite some time yet.
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Re: Hey, we're over here! [message #55411 is a reply to message #55406] |
Sun, 06 August 2006 00:32 ![Go to previous message Go to previous message](/forum/theme/AudioRoundTable/images/up.png) ![Go to next message Go to next message](/forum/theme/AudioRoundTable/images/down.png) |
wunhuanglo
Messages: 912 Registered: May 2009
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Illuminati (2nd Degree) |
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You want to know what I think? It's pure racism - the face of the hurricane is poor, uneducated and black so the power structure couldn't care less about the place.
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Re: Hey, we're over here! [message #55414 is a reply to message #55412] |
Sun, 06 August 2006 10:20 ![Go to previous message Go to previous message](/forum/theme/AudioRoundTable/images/up.png) ![Go to next message Go to previous message](/forum/theme/AudioRoundTable/images/down.png) |
wunhuanglo
Messages: 912 Registered: May 2009
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Illuminati (2nd Degree) |
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You could check in at www.nola.com from time to time to see what's going on. Did you know the city's essentially under martial law with the Army Reserve patrolling and curfews? We've got murders going four and five a clip on the wekends. What I see is there's no "real" work in the city proper - some companies are not coming back, some who tried to come back are leaving again. Of 22,000 registered business in existence on August 28, 2005 there are now approximately 2000 open (according to the paper) and that includes Popeye's and Burger King. There's little housing available, even where I live (the next suburb north which happens to be 24 miles away across the world's longest bridge) and the prices are really getting up there. When we moved here the majority of nicer, newer houses ( brick veneer, 1/4 acre, 3-4 bdrm, 2-3 baths) in the area were running around $150K (we paid a "record" price for our neighborhood of $169K) - two years ago you still could by brand-new small brick veneer ranches "out in the parish" for under $80K. Today all the prices you see are around $350K with dozens of houses within walking distance of my house going for $750K up to $1300K. Remember this is the poorest state in the union - we're talking serious pressure on the housing market. That means that it's nearly impossible for family people to move in here to support the companies that want to stay. A lot of people who were driven out by the storm don't have any resources to rebuild; they lived in generational houses and didn't have mortgages and consequently many had no insurance. Given that, and the lost tax revenue, I see New Orleans repeating its original development starting in 1865. Over many years people and businesses will slowly drift back, reclaiming bits of ground at a time. Meanwhile trying to support police, fire and public utilities (the omnibus utility company has been bankrupt for 11 months and simply provides services no better than temporary connections). At best it will be a "boutique" city consisting of the Quarter and Uptown (the original settled areas, before the levees), surrounded by rot with all the money moving to the suburbs. One more serious flooding incident and you can write the place off. And that's entirely possible - the Corps of Engineers won't have the original flood control re-established until Christmas, and probably later given that they're already 6 months behind their original schedule.
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