"Twice in almost the same breath, Obama made a point that the president needs to be 'in touch with the needs of New Orleans before the hurricane hits' and that 'we've got to have a president who understands the reality that people in New Orleans were being neglected prior to the hurricane.'
From Think Progress
Some very interesting comments at the end of the article. Did Chertoff really wait 36 hours before turning over authority to Brownie?EPA allowed toxic chemicals to harm poor Katrina victims: A GAO report revealed that EPA publicly downplayed the risk of asbestos inhalation, which is often released during home demolition, to city residents and failed to deploy air monitors in predominantly African-American neighborhoods. Furthermore, EPA waited nearly eight months to inform residents that short-term visits could expose them to dangerous levels of asbestos and mold.
FEMA ignored its own hurricane plan: Prior to Katrina, FEMA created a “Southeast Louisiana Hurricane Backup Plan” which forecasted specific consequences and action-plans in the event of a hurricane. But “post-Katrina FEMA documents demonstrate that that the plan was never implemented.” The day before Katrina hit, FEMA Deputy Director Patrick Rhode sent an e-mail to Michael Brown’s assistant with the subject line, “copy of New Orleans cat plan,” stating, “I never got one — I think Brown got my copy — did you get one?”
FEMA guaranteed billions in profits for big companies: Following Katrina, federal agencies “doled out more than $2.4 billion in cost-plus contracts,” which “offer companies no incentive to save money or keep costs from ballooning.” FEMA was responsible for nearly 94 percent of all of the hurricane-related cost-plus contracts, with the remainder being issued primarily by the EPA and U.S. Air Force.
Wednesday's lawsuit on behalf of Mississippi Gulf Coast homeowners is the first in which Scruggs and his legal team accused an insurer of violating the civil Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization Act, commonly known as RICO.
About time someone called them out. Racketeering is exactly the right word for it.Scruggs, who helped negotiate a multibillion dollar settlement with tobacco companies in the mid-1990s, said he had filed similar civil RICO suits against tobacco companies. They are tougher cases to build, but can carry stiffer penalties, he added.
"The facts call out for this kind of remedy," he said. "It puts their license to do business at risk if they lose (the case), for one thing."
This Road Home mess has led us everywhere but home,’’ ACORN’s Gwendolyn Adams said at the Capitol. “We are not refugees. We are citizens.’’
The deputies have claimed they shot only dangerous animals, but another pet-owner described hearing them joking about holding "target practice" with the pets.Pretty ironic for St. Bernard cops to be shooting dogs.
This is the recent word on the faulty pumps.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The faulty drainage pumps that the Army Corps of Engineers installed before last year's hurricane season still have mechanical flaws, according to a Corps report released Friday that also criticized the pump contracts. Sen. Mary Landrieu immediately called for a federal investigation.Although the pumps have been overhauled, critical deficiencies remain a year later, the report said.
The review by three Corps engineers backed up the findings of a May 2006 memo by a Corps mechanical engineer working on the $32 million project to put 34 pumps at city canals. The memo warned that the pumps were faulty and would not work if needed to remove water during a hurricane.
BUT, just last month, the GAO said they found no improprieties in the contract.
WASHINGTON — The investigative arm of Congress, the General Accountability Office, found no impropriety in the awarding of the contract to install pumps around New Orleans.
The finding was presented to U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu in a private Thursday briefing of a report expected to be released next week.
Though the Louisiana Democrat said she was pleased with the news, she blamed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with misleading New Orleans area residents last summer by telling them pumping capacity was adequate.
NEW ORLEANS - A former New Orleans police officer charged in the videotaped beating of a man after Hurricane Katrina apparently shot himself to death about a month before his trial, authorities said Monday.
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