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Starman
SFN Regular
Sweden
1613 Posts |
 Posted - 09/04/2005 : 23:45:23 [Permalink]
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The Hurricane was gods response to Robertsons Chaves statements.
We must burn him imediately to avoid further disasters. |
"Any religion that makes a form of torture into an icon that they worship seems to me a pretty sick sort of religion quite honestly"
-- Terry Jones |
| Edited by - Starman on 09/04/2005 23:50:35 |
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Tim
SFN Regular
USA
775 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2005 : 06:06:10 [Permalink]
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I remembered seeing an interview with the president of Citgo last Wendesday from over in Lake Charles. He and the gov't of Venezuela were one of the first major companies and nations to offer substantial aid for this crises. Those offers made by Felix Rodriguez and Hugo Chavez were those things that could be truely helpful. From the article: quote:
Sources at the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington DC, told Venezuelanalysis.com that apart from the million dollars in monetary assistance, Venezuela is offering two mobile hospital units, each capable of assisting 150 people, 120 specialists in rescue operations, 10 water purifying plants, 18 electricity generators of 850 KW each, 20 tons of bottled water, and 50 tons of canned food.
This is above and beyond the offer of direct financial aid and oil from a nearby Lake Charles refinery that is already back online!
What happenned? Does anyone know if these offers ever went beyond the 'tentative' stage, or are we stuck in a political quagmire again?
Since that time I've heard nothing from the major media outlets concerning this offer, even though I've heard much on the more recent advances toward accepting NATO aid. Mostly, the TV news is useless, and our local newspaper is the voice of the Chamber of Commerce.
I realize that part of Chavez's offer was probably politically inspired, but if we did not accept this aid for political reasons, then that is a crime.
Locally, nearly all of the people not seriously affected by the storm are doing what they can to help. We're collecting bedding and toiletries and companies are donating things like ice and money. We've spent a lot of time lately helping our neighbors, and the worst for the folks of Southeast Louisiana seems to be over, (with the conspicuous exception of Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and St. Tammany Parishes). Most people now have power and life is beginning to return to normal.
edited for clarification |
"We got an issue in America. Too many good docs are gettin' out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their -- their love with women all across this country." Dubya in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 9/6/2004
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| Edited by - Tim on 09/05/2005 06:39:00 |
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Tim
SFN Regular
USA
775 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2005 : 06:57:15 [Permalink]
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Sorry, I gotta gripe...
FOX is happily reporting on Bush's next vist to Southeast Louisiana. He's coming to Baton Rouge today. I really wish he'd keep the photo ops to a minimum. We don't need to waste all of the resources required for a presidential visit funnelled from the real work. There's absolutely nothing he can do here that he can't do in Texas or DC, other than get in the damned way!
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"We got an issue in America. Too many good docs are gettin' out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their -- their love with women all across this country." Dubya in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 9/6/2004
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2005 : 11:34:01 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Tim
Sorry, I gotta gripe...
FOX is happily reporting on Bush's next vist to Southeast Louisiana. He's coming to Baton Rouge today. I really wish he'd keep the photo ops to a minimum. We don't need to waste all of the resources required for a presidential visit funnelled from the real work. There's absolutely nothing he can do here that he can't do in Texas or DC, other than get in the damned way!
Hard to stomach, they also showed Bush congratulating the FEMA director for doing such an outstanding job. We really need better puking smilies for this one. Unbelievable! |
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ktesibios
SFN Regular
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2005 : 12:04:35 [Permalink]
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But, but, it's absolutely imperative that the Preznit go do as many photo ops as possible. You see,
quote:
WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 - Under the command of President Bush's two senior political advisers, the White House rolled out a plan this weekend to contain the political damage from the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina.
It orchestrated visits by cabinet members to the region... and sought to move the blame for the slow response to Louisiana state officials, according to Republicans familiar with the White House plan.
The effort is being directed by Mr. Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, and his communications director, Dan Bartlett. It began late last week after Congressional Republicans called White House officials to register alarm about what they saw as a feeble response by Mr. Bush to the hurricane, according to Republican Congressional aides.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspecial/05bush.html
And they've started up the Lie Machine:
quote:
A senior administration official said that Bush has clear legal authority to federalize National Guard units to quell civil disturbances under the Insurrection Act and will continue to try to unify the chains of command that are split among the president, the Louisiana governor and the New Orleans mayor.
Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until Wednesday, three state and federal officials said. As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/03/AR2005090301680.html
Now go to the link and read the article. Up at the top of the page you will find:
quote:
Correction to This Article
A Sept. 4 article on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina incorrectly said that Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D) had not declared a state of emergency. She declared an emergency on Aug. 26.
Perhaps the SCLM ought to consider a policy of "no anonymity if what you tell us turns out to be a fucking lie".
As for getting in the way, that's a very cogent concern. The presence of VIPs does have a way of screwing things up. The Preznit's last visit caused the shutdown of all air traffic in the area for hours, with the result that relief supplies which were ready for delivery to where they were needed sat in the sun because the choppers which would have delivered them weren't allowed to fly.
And the only communications facilities in the Cajundome, which is housing refugees, were commandeered for eight hours, along with the food service facilities and women's showers, so that Laura Bush could play=act at "helping":
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/4/124532/7736
Sometimes it isn't just interfering; sometimes it's something worse: fakery.
Here's Senator Landrieu on the reality of the Preznit's set dressing:
quote:
"Perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street Levee," said Senator Landrieu, a Democrat.
"Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe.
"Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity.
"The desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment."
And there's this, courtesy of warandpiece.com:
quote:
Dutch viewer Frank Tiggelaar writes:
There was a striking dicrepancy between the CNN International report on the Bush visit to the New Orleans disaster zone, yesterday, and reports of the same event by German TV.
ZDF News reported that the president's visit was a completely staged event. Their crew witnessed how the open air food distribution point Bush visited in front of the cameras was torn down immediately after the president and the herd of 'news people' had left and that others which were allegedly being set up were abandoned at the same time.
The people in the area were once again left to fend for themselves, said ZDF.
Looking for an original source on that despite my lack of language skills, I ran across this: http://www.heute.de/ZDFheute/inhalt/23/0,3672,2370967,00.html
Bad as Babelfish is, it was still possible to get the gist of it. And now I've found a much more intelligible translation:
quote:
Clean-up operation only for Bush?
Where the US President visited the disaster area, aid units cleaned up the area. But only there. Reporting from Biloxi, ZDF correspondent Claudia Rueggeberg cited desperate inhabitants [of Biloxi telling her] Bush should have transported aid materials inside his limousines instead of a bunch of body guards and media correspondents.
[Now citing Claudia Rueggeberg directly from the video:]
Along his [Bush] travel route aid units removed debris and recovered corpses. Then Bush left and along with him, all aid troops left too. The situation in Biloxi remains unchanged, nothing has arrived, everything is still needed.
[sigh] If only we had a rubber room stocked with colorful non-toxic playthings to put the top of officialdom in while the people with relevant skills did their jobs without interference... 
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"The Republican agenda is to turn the United States into a third-world shithole." -P.Z.Myers |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 09/06/2005 : 01:06:05 [Permalink]
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| Saw the saddest thing today on the BBC News. The reporters went out in their boat to a house full of kids. Their mother was dead in the bedroom. One kid interviewed said she needed oxygen and couldn't get any. The kids had been there since the hurricane with only a dead parent. The same reporters also talked with a couple neighbors who were adults but had their dead mother in the house as well. All the while Bush is out there photo opping. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 09/10/2005 : 06:13:02 [Permalink]
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It's getting more complicated and worse yet for the folks in NO, black and white. Now the insurance companies are spliting hairs over the difference between rain & wind (hurricane), and flood damage.
quote:
NEW YORK (Sept. 9) - Insurers are potentially facing billions of dollars in losses from Hurricane Katrina claims, and battle lines have begun forming as carriers argue they aren't responsible for flooding excluded from standard homeowners policies.
The majority of homes in areas slammed by the hurricane have policies that cover wind and rain damage, but relatively few had extra insurance to cover flooding. Insurers are posturing to limit the amount of damages by saying massive flooding in storm-ravaged New Orleans is a separate event from the hurricane itself.
This distinction could save insurers billions of dollars more from a catastrophe billed as the costliest natural disaster ever to face the industry. Some carriers have even adopted the phrase "The Great New Orleans Flood" in an effort to make that distinction more tangible.
"If there is a question at some point as to whether the industry should be held responsible for flood insurance, that would change the whole mechanism of how insurance works," said Loretta Worters, a vice president with the Insurance Information Institute, a trade organization sponsored by the property & casualty industry.
"I understand their plight, and insurers have their adjustors out and see what's going on, but we are compassionate up to the point of the policy," she said, "but, that's where FEMA has to step in."
How does one tell the if the house was destroyed by wind & rain if it's also flooded over? Taste the water perhaps? If it's salty, no claim?
I foresee lots of court action in the near future...
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 09/10/2005 : 14:27:32 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by filthy
It's getting more complicated and worse yet for the folks in NO, black and white. Now the insurance companies are spliting hairs over the difference between rain & wind (hurricane), and flood damage.
I don't know much about FEMA, other than it stands for Federal Emergency Management Agency. It looks from the article as if FEMA is responsible for providing disaster relief, including housing for those stricken. In that case I have no problem understanding why the insurance companies want to shift the burden over to FEMA. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2005 : 14:55:25 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dr. Mabuse
quote:
Originally posted by filthy
It's getting more complicated and worse yet for the folks in NO, black and white. Now the insurance companies are spliting hairs over the difference between rain & wind (hurricane), and flood damage.
I don't know much about FEMA, other than it stands for Federal Emergency Management Agency. It looks from the article as if FEMA is responsible for providing disaster relief, including housing for those stricken. In that case I have no problem understanding why the insurance companies want to shift the burden over to FEMA.
Found this at Rising Hegemon.
It was accompanied by another pic taken at the Emmys of some chick almost wearing a bed sheet, but that one is a little off topic.
Or maybe not -- Some Katrnia survivors don't have much more...
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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Starman
SFN Regular
Sweden
1613 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2005 : 23:52:12 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by filthy
It's getting more complicated and worse yet for the folks in NO, black and white. Now the insurance companies are spliting hairs over the difference between rain & wind (hurricane), and flood damage.
Is there any hope at all of getting money from insurance companies?
I thought they would hide behind some force majeure clause? |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 09/20/2005 : 00:47:57 [Permalink]
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The flood wind thing is standard. I'm not sure the insurance companies bear all the blame there. I have earthquake insurance. So when the big one hits here should I feel sorry for the folks who haven't chosen to pay it forward? I think not. My brother chose not to carry health insurance assuming he could pay for most stuff. That's true up to a certain amount but in reality, should he suffer catastrophic medical needs, the money's either going to come from other insurance payers for the bill he can't pay, or from my Mom who has more than my brother. It pisses me off a bit since he's gambling with others' money and thinks nothing of it.
Most people who buy a house in any 100 year flood zone are required to carry flood insurance by mortgage lenders. If some of those folks didn't think they had any flood risk then they were pretty stupid.
No, I'm not sure the insurance companies are doing anything they didn't clearly state in their policies if a person chose to pay attention to the issue. |
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Starman
SFN Regular
Sweden
1613 Posts |
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Topic Locked
