Broadening Katrina's Lens

This is the first in a series to help the Democratic Party, particularly its presidential hopefuls, to get the framework right, to broaden its lens through which it views Katrina, what’s stopping recovery, what will speed up a vibrant recovery, and how Katrina affords us to transform the basic quality of life for all Americans.

Last week’s Democratic presidential debate really rubbed me the wrong way. From the question posed to the answers given, everyone just marched right along with a recitation of the media’s “one-size-fits-all” frame for discussing who Hurricane Katrina impacted, what that impact was, and a bevy of insufficient solutions offered as a result of this faulty way of viewing this catastrophe.

The one-size-fits-all approach goes something like this.

1. Katrina = New Orleans = levees.
   
2. Problems stemming from Katrina are the same for New Orleans, the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and the areas Katrina impacted that were as far as 200 miles inland from the Gulf Coast.
   
3. Katrina impacted mostly the most poor among us, and they were primarily located in the 9th Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana.
   
4. The ineptitude stemming from the Bush White House and FEMA comes out of a racist lens alone.
   
5. Solutions for the city of New Orleans and its levees will solve all the problems stemming from Katrina, which really are about Bush’s immense callous ineptitude about poor people who could not leave New Orleans before Katrina.
   
6. Talking about Katrina recovery in New Orleans is shorthand for talking about, addressing, understanding, and solving the multitude of issues regarding recovery for everything inside and outside of New Orleans.

Do these ring a bell? Of course, they do. The media played these images and talked only of New Orleans and the levees over and over again until they became seared in our brains. The framework became installed. Katrina = New Orleans = levees = racist/classist betrayal. Unfortunately, these are all, indeed, true, but the picture is incomplete and encourages otherwise intelligent individuals to ask questions that miss the mark and offer solutions that are insufficient to address all of the problems we face.

Let’s take last week’s debate as an example. NPR’s Michel Martin asked the following question to the Democratic presidential hopefuls.

Would you support a federal law guaranteeing the right to return to New Orleans and other gulf regions devastated by hurricane Katrina based on the United Nations human rights standards governing the internal displacement of citizens?

What?! Are you kidding me?! Invoking the United Nations? Look. What we need to invoke is the infamous phrase from the movie “Jerry McGuire”: Show me the Money! Show me the Money!

While Ms. Martin’s question was well-meaning, the question itself as well as the answers the Democratic hopefuls provided displayed an appalling ignorance of what is stopping cities from rebuilding their communities, hindering businesses from reopening their doors, and preventing people from returning to their homes, jobs, schools, places of worship, and lives.

Had the staff of NPR or the Democratic Presidential hopefuls been research savvy, they would have learned that Congressman Gene Taylor and U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu have put forth some incredible legislative initiatives to address real problems with real solutions such as expanding the flood insurance program to include all natural perils (H.R 920) and to close the anti-trust loop that has permitted the insurance companies to collude with each other legally (S.618).

Perhaps someone will forward various Democratic presidential campaign staffers this specific series or just turn them on to A.M. in the Morning!

God help us all. The Democrats have to get the framework right. We know that the ReTHUGlicans will be completely clueless—and care less about being clueless.

As Democrats, we agree that the preparation for Katrina and the recovery efforts in her aftermath are microcosms of and metaphors for the appalling absence of White House leadership since George W. Bush and Dick Cheney stole the 2000 presidential election and moved into our Oval Office in January of 2001. On that end of the analysis, we have agreement.

However, flushing out the specifics of the microcosms and metaphors requires more than sound bites that fit nicely with the overall theme of a candidate’s campaign or one’s political perspective on poverty, the environment, race, the Bush Administration, etc.

For example, continually boiling down the problems New Orleans faces only to repairing levees and the challenges in the 9th Ward alone misses the bigger picture and important elements for recovery in that city, in the Gulf Coast region, and in the nation.

By broadening our minds to take in the fullness of what encompasses the problems we face here, we can then see the great opportunities to recover this area far quicker and to make dramatic changes that will fundamentally improve the quality of our lives regardless of where we live. After all, every family wants to protect its greatest asset—home. When we fix what’s wrong with the recovery efforts here in Katrina Land, we’ll be protecting everyone’s home from sea to shining sea.

To do this, we must begin with a framework that works for Louisiana and Mississippi, for those inside of New Orleans and those outside of it, for those that Katrina directly impacted and for those that future natural disasters—tornado, flood, blizzard, mudslide, earthquake—will impact.

What’s wrong with our recovery has everything to do with the crisis in confidence we feel in our federal government, the White House, as well as our insurance corporations that are supposed to provide financial security for our family’s biggest investment: our home. Remedies for what ails the recovery efforts have already been introduced in Congress. Additional remedies will also come from the innumerable court cases that the Scruggs Katrina Group, The Merlin Group, and other lawyers who are successful in attaining a fair deal for their clients through dragging the insurance carriers to court for a bit of American justice.

In the meantime, it is important that we understand fully the true impediments to our recovery so that we can push our federal lawmakers to make changes that make a real difference for those inside and outside of the Katrina ravaged region of our nation.


Broadening Katrina’s Lens: A five Part Series

Part 1: Broadening Katrina's Lens
Part 2: Recovery’s Two Major Impediments: $$$ and the “F” word
Part 3: The "F" Word: FEMA
Part 4: Katrina’s Bigger Picture
Part 5: Katrina’s Karmic Payback: Insurance Reform

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A Southern Moonlit Sauna Has Me Thinking of Bush and Jesus

With the beauty of Saturday night’s moon beaming brightly upon the water, hundreds of people gathered at the Bay St. Louis Yacht Club to listen to the deliciously divine music of Deacon John, a New Orleans legend playing all the favorites going back some fifty years. I couldn’t believe how hot it was or that sweat was running down my legs! A young friend informed me, “That isn’t sweat. It’s the humidity stuck to your legs.” I guess it’s been a while since I went dancing under the moonlight with humidity in the night air making life almost unbearable were it not for Deacon John’s music.

I immediately thought, “Thank GAWD I wore shorts and a t-shirt.” Looking around, I saw sweat poring of off everyone. Thus the reason for the HUGE four to five foot fans under the tent where the band played and the rest of us danced. Now, if you thought this was some uptight-dressed-to-the-nines-with-diamond-jewels kind of crowd, you’d have been wrong as wrong could be. At best, everyone wore picnic attire, the same thing many of us had worn earlier that day when we went to the annual Crab Festival at Our Lady Academy, the Catholic all girl high school I attended.

I bought myself a shrimp po-boy—a New Orleans specialty—and sat down at a table filled with folks I didn’t know. Like me, they were enjoying the divinely mouth-watering delicacies for which our region is so well-known. Across from me was a couple who had lost a 5,000 square foot home in Katrina. What did their insurance carrier offer for the damages? $19,000. What a jaw dropper!

Being smart business people, they had tried to get flood insurance and were denied it because they didn’t live in a flood zone. This insurance nightmare pushed this couple into joining one of the Scruggs Katrina lawsuits.

After we finished our meal and concluded our discussion, we parted knowing that we’d be seeing each other at THE event of the weekend: dancing to Deacon John that night. Indeed, we ran into each other soon after the gig began to crank up. Music and dancing are a strong part of our cultural history here which can be most easily understood when taking into consideration the fact that many families, like my own, are originally from New Orleans. Our heat and humidity are other similarities to the birthplace of Jazz.

The South’s Natural Sauna
Saturday night, I voluntarily re-experienced the “Southern Sauna,” as my brother Michael called the horrendous humidity with which we grew up. Of course, being out under the moonlight dancing with my friends was pleasurable play time. I was just out having a good time as sweat ran down the back of my t-shirt and the humidity grabbed a hold of my legs then rolled right down. At least, I could go over to a fan and cool off occasionally. Eventually, I would return to my car with air conditioning which I would drive to my mother’s home that was also air conditioned. I could jump into the shower. These are choices that most of us take for granted.

Two years ago when Katrina hit, electricity and safe-water were near non-existent commodities. My older brother Rosie told me that he would put water in jugs and sit them out in the sun to warm up all day. That way he would have relatively warm water for an evening wash up. Because the water source wasn’t safe for weeks after the storm, he’d put bleach in the jugs to kill the germs.

Rosie said he noticed that those who failed to put bleach in their water ended up with sores on their bodies. And the weather was more scorching than it is at this point in the summer. As I think and write about these things, I cannot imagine the turmoil and nightmare that family, friends, and strangers all lived through in those months, particularly with the horrendous weather.

The worst weather comes in August and September, the two months in which hurricanes tend to hit the Gulf Coast region. Hurricane Betsy hit New Orleans on September 9th, 1965. Camille hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast August 17th, 1969, and Katrina hit on August 29th, 2005, devastating my beloved Gulf Coast and breaching the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers’ levees which flooded our New Orleans.

Sister cities: New Orleans and Baghdad?
I have often thought that the destruction, betrayal, and their accompanying mental toll along the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans resembles that experienced in war-torn areas of the world.The other day, I came across an excerpt in a Daily Kos Diary of an Iraqi blogger writing about his experience in New Orleans. I thought his words particularly insightful.

New Orleans Isn't Very Different from Baghdad!
What shocked me the most in this trip was how the city looked like Baghdad. New Orleans looked like Baghdad after the war in 1991; I swear I kid you not. The devastation, empty houses, the people returning to their life in the city, the "rituals" people practice before they completely come back, the bumps in the streets and the smell of destruction (it has a distinctive smell people. Yes it does.)

I arrived to New Orleans Thursday. On the way to the hotel, I saw the same thing I saw on tv two years ago, destroyed buildings. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Two years later and the scene is the same? Where are we? A government that spent hundreds of billions of dollars on wars overseas is not capable of dealing with a crisis on its own soil! A crisis that all what it needed was money!

Priorities, Hearts, and Money
I grew up with a saying that my mother would recite. It went something like this. “Show me where you spend you money, and I’ll show you where your priorities are.” Other times it would end with “I’ll show you where your heart is.”

When it comes to the priorities and heart of George W. Bush, his White House, and his cronies in the corporate insurance industry, evidence abound. Plenty of taxpayers’ money and resources for his big time campaign contributors even if fraud is committed in padding his contributor’s pocketbook. Nothing much for the rest of us, including his Republican supporters in the Katrina ravaged region.

On the floor of the House of Representatives, Gulf Coast Democratic Congressman Gene Taylor showcased these fraudulent-riddled priorities with regard to Katrina recovery. Specifically, Taylor discussed FEMA trailers that were

“delivered by a friend of the president by the name of Riley Bechtel, a major contributor to Bush administration. He got $16,000 to haul a trailer the last 70 miles from Purvis, Miss., down to the Gulf Coast , hook it up to a garden hose, hook it up to a sewer tap, and plug it in. 16,000.” [Watch the video.]

Clearly, Bush’s priorities are heartless.

Families remain in the toxic formaldehyde-FEMA trailers. Grants remain unpaid. Insurance companies refuse to pay appropriately on claims without the force of attorneys, refuse to provide insurance at reasonable rates, and/or refuse to write policies anymore. Bush has turned a deaf ear refusing to respond appropriately to the heartfelt prayers of the families in need of real leadership in Katrina Land.

Bush and Jesus
My return to the annual fair that the Catholic elementary school of my youth had put on this weekend has me thinking. At Mass and Catholic school, I learned about charity and service to others. More than anything, though, I learned about taking one's responsibilities seriously. Truly, God forbid if I didn’t follow through on some responsibility. I have no idea what would have happened had I been a slacker like George W. Bush. All I know is that I was taught to be responsible. Like many of you across the country, I learned this at home, at school, and at my family’s place of worship.

When it comes to the many responsibilities that Bush neglects especially here in Katrina Land, I’d like to ask Mr. “I’m the nation’s Preacher-in-Chief” one question. What responsibilities would Jesus neglect?

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Illegal immigration's impact felt locally

Issue has two sides on Coast
By JOSHUA NORMAN
jdnorman@sunherald.com

The same week major immigration reform died in Congress, illegal immigration came to the forefront on the Coast in a tragic way.

Read the rest of the story in Mississippi Gulf Coast's Sun Herald.

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Mr. “I can do my job” isn’t doing his job

Our state’s insurance commissioner, George Dale, has been rather busy of late speaking before audiences spewing forth one or another talking points provided by the insurance industry with which he is in the preverbal political bed. In his latest appalling display of happily carrying water for the insurance industry, Dale told the Clarksdale Noon Lions Club Katrina [was] "the worst natural disaster in U.S. history . . . and put an undue burden on insurance companies.”

What?! This publicly elected official is unapologetically expressing concern over Katrina’s devastating impact . . . not for families, neighborhoods, communities, and cities all across the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, the state in which he is elected to protect consumers from corporate insurance running amok over them? That would be empathizing with the folks with whom we would expect him to empathize. After all, he is the insurance commissioner for the people of Mississippi.

No, sir. Dale has the gall to reserve his empathy for the industry which all through the Katrina ravaged Mississippi Gulf Coast region has been ripping off consumers, families, businesses, right and left, Republican and Democrat, rich, poor and middle class. In his official capacity, Dale expresses concern for the corporations which boasted obscene billion dollar profits in the aftermath of . . . now, how did Dale characterize it? Oh yeah, “the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.”

A friend too shy for direct attribution and to whom I’ll refer to as a gloriously delightful celestial spirit who came to me in the night summarized Dale’s disgusting public betrayal.

”This is unbelievable. George Dale told the Clarksville Lions Club that Katrina ‘put an undue burden on insurance companies.’ If people pay premiums year in and year out, how is it an ‘undue burden’ for insurance companies to keep the faith with policy holders? I guess George thinks that it is an undue burden for a casino to have to pay off when someone pumps their dollars into a slot machine and hits the jackpot.”

Insurance Companies Hit Billion Dollar Jackpot
With a government insurance commissioner gleefully bouncing around the state touting the latest round of talking points the industry supplies him, no wonder the insurance corporations have been able to hit the billion dollar jackpot.

The Insurance Industry Institute reported that the private insurance industry boasted $44.2 billion in after-tax profits in 2005 and $63.7 billion in after-tax profits in 2006. That’s some heavy profit making. These profits were after the companies had paid out $40.6 billion in Katrina claims. Of course, that wasn’t all of the Katrina-related claims. The industry sent the U.S. federal government flood program a $23 billion bill.

So far, claims paid out on Katrina add up to $64 billion— and this amount only accounts for those who’ve been paid on their claims through 2006. By the end of last year, the private insurance companies had paid $41 billion. These same companies essentially handed a $23 billion bill to American taxpayers for damages that these private companies determined for themselves that flood waters had caused. How generous that the private insurance industry only stiffed the U.S. taxpayers for 36% of the bill, so far.

On his official government website, Congressman Gene Taylor, a good Democrat from the Katrina ravaged Gulf Coast of Mississippi, has an incredible collection of “documents that suggest fraud by insurance companies in the handling of Katrina wind and water claims.” These documents appear to officially direct claims adjusters with such doozies of corporate policies like this one from Nationwide “if loss is caused by both flood and wind there is no coverage.”

NO coverage?!

Or this doozie from State Farm that instructed adjusters that “where wind acts concurrently with flooding to cause damage to the insured property, coverage for the loss exists only under flood coverage.”

Dale’s Foot-in-Mouth Disease
Dale’s insults to Katrina’s survivors continued. The Clarksville Press Registry reported

The enormous impact from Hurricane Katrina should leave Mississippians wondering if they should live "in harm's way," State Insurance Commissioner George Dale.

Let’s see now. According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

“Populations and built environments in coastal watersheds are growing rapidly, with 55 percent of the U.S. population already living within 50 miles of the
coast.”“The Coastal Community Development Partnership” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

The Coastal Community Development Partnership brings together NOAA and EPA offices to better support state and local governments as they promote safer and smarter development along the coast.

Is Commissioner Dale suggesting that 55% of the U.S. population move inland? Katrina’s devastation went well over 100 miles inland. How far inland would he recommend that over half of America’s families move? 150 miles inland? 200 miles? How would he recommend accomplishing that? If it isn’t hurricane country, it’s tornado country or blizzard country or earthquake country.

Dale should focus on doing the job to which he was elected rather than pretending to be the grand master of city planning.

Mr. “I-can-do-my-job” shouldn’t have one
In his impromptu speech before the state’s annual Municipal League conference held on the Gulf Coast this week, Dale repeated this mantra many times “I can do my job.” Thanks to John Leek at Cotton Mouth Blog, another Gulf Coast blog, we have video of Dale’s public admission.

Considering the man has been in the pocket of the very industry he has been responsible for regulating in the 32 years Dale’s been elected to this office, I’m glad to hear him admit that he can do his job. The question, of course, is “when is he going to start?”

Verrrrry Interesting
Before the Lions Club, Dale continued his showmanship in demonstrating his expertise in the foot-in-mouth department. "Can we survive another (Katrina) . . . ?" Excuse me?! This from a man who has all but prostituted himself for the insurance industry that has made recovery all but practically impossible for everyone involved?! Thanks to Dale’s buddies in the insurance industry and their shameless flackey with this Mississippi Insurance Commissioner, surviving Katrina has yet to come to a resilient conclusion.

When I read those highly insensitive words, I thought of the ever popular 1970’s comedy show Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In. The show had a character named Wolfgang, the Nazi soldier who would pop up behind bushes to say the infamous line "Verrry interesting...but schtupit!"

Yep. That's schtupit, alright. George Dale needs to voluntarily retire and work directly for the insurance industry he has protected from any real regulation.

Personally, I think the real question is this. "Should the good people of Mississippi even entertain the thought of surviving another year with an Insurance Commissioner who is a mouthpiece for an industry that ripped off the families and businesses of the Katrina-ravaged regions of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and New Orleans?!"

The answer is no.

Dale’s handling of the Katrina disaster alone should have the Democratic voters in South Mississippi sending this guy packing come the August primary.

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Happy Talk: State Farm and Their Statistics

I come from a musical family. Growing up in my home, playing musical instruments, dancing, and singing were the norm. On Saturdays, one of my older brothers would turn on the radio or put a stack of 45s on the stereo. We would dance with mops and brooms to Motown or other terrific music playing in the background while doing our chores.

As my younger brother now says, “Anything worth doing, is worth doing to music!” I wonder if this is his modern day version of the Mary Poppins’ lyrics “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” For old time’s sake, here’s a YouTube version of Julie Andrews singing it. Go ahead, press the button. You know you want to! ;)

Mary Poppin's "Spoonful of Sugar"
Indeed, Disney movies as well as Broadway plays were a big while I was growing up, and their positive influence has remained with me. I have found their lyrics to be supremely instructional. Rogers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific featured the song “Happy Talk” which may be seen as a precursor to the introduction of the power of positive thinking. In the Broadway musical, South Pacific’s character Bloody Mary sang the rhythmic song while playing matchmaker with her daughter and a military guy.

Happy talkin’ Talkin’
happy talk
Talk about things you like to do
You got to have a dream
If you don’t have a dream
How you gonna have a dream come true?

. . .

If you don’t talk happy
And you never have a dream,
Then you never have a dream come true.

Clearly this is good advice with regard to anything we desire, and its magic is legendary for those of us who’ve followed it. We can see its fruits all around us. The fruit itself can be quite deliciously sweet.

However, the fruit can also be demonically poisonous. It just depends on the fruit about which one is happily talking. State Farm’s happy talk about its closed Katrina-related cases is a great example.

In response to the racketeering lawsuit that the Scruggs Katrina Group filed against State Farm, the company’s spokesman Jonathan Freed declared, “More than 99% of all Katrina claims have been paid and settled.”

Mississippi’s Insurance Commissioner George Dale repeats the talking points that the insurance industry apparently provides him. "98 percent of all claims have been paid." This is all happy talkin’ non-sense. The company’s happy talk covers up the sad reality for hurricane survivors. Playing the role of the big bad wolf, State Farm and Commissioner Dale, who is in the industry’s pocket, hope to scare away current and potential plaintiffs from participating in lawsuits that are intended to force the companies to live up to their contractual obligations. Dale’s attorney is a big time lobbyist for the insurance industry, and the commissioner sees no conflict of interest with this relationship.

Oh my, what big teeth you have!
Not really. Mississippi Attorney General Jim “Hood accused State Farm of reporting false statistics, saying the insurer asserted it had settled 99 percent of its Katrina claims. The Attorney General said if the insurer considered a residence damaged by water, it didn't consider it a claim at all.”

What?! Isn’t that what all of the lawsuits are about in the first place? The fact that State Farm and its cohorts in the insurance industry have routinely pawned off on the federal government’s flood insurance program all of the hurricane’s costs regardless of the percent of damage caused by wind and that caused by water? A smidgen of water and bam! The insurance industry hits our Federal flood insurance program with an inflated $23 billion bill. Meanwhile, the Insurance Industry Institute reported that the private insurance industry boasted $44.2 billion in after-tax profits in 2005 and $63.7 billion in after-tax profits in 2006. These profits were after the companies had paid out $40.6 billion in Katrina claims, which of course, are not all of the Katrina-related claims that they should have paid. [For more information, read Scamming Policyholders & Taxpayers.]

Mixing Bloody Mary’s Happy Talk Advice with Alice in Wonderland
State Farm isn’t the only one using the talking point to pretend 99% of Hurricane Katrina claims have been settled. It’s good neighbor Allstate uses the same number, too!

“Allstate spokesman Michael Siemienas said, “We are pleased that these customers are now a part of the 99 percent of Allstate customers in Mississippi whose claims are settled.” What does he mean “are now a part of the 99 percent”? Is this an admission that Allstate had created a number and from now on any claims the corporation really does close appropriately are part of the fictitious number? Geeze, Louise!

Is State Farm—and Allstate, for that matter—combining Bloody Mary’s happy talk advice with “The Unbirthday Song” lyrics from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland? Do you remember that one? It’s about using statistics in a way that favors your goal. Go on. Press the button. You know you want to remember the Disney film of our youth.

Alice in Wonderland's "The Unbirthday Song"
Statistics prove, prove that you've one birthday,
one birthday ev'ry year.
But there are three
hundred and sixty four
unbirthdays.
That is why we're gathered here to cheer.

Let’s recap, shall we? We have State Farm, Allstate, and their industry front man, Mississippi Insurance Commissioner George Dale all singing from the same fictitious happy statistical song sheet.

Too bad I’m not a cartoonist. I could sketch out an editorial cartoon of three men on stage surrounding a single microphone. Two are cartoonish State Farm and Allstate figures dressed in suits made from cloth with their respective company logos as the design. The third member of the trio, of course, would be their front man, George Dale.

The tune? “The 99% Blues” sung in three part harmony and dedicated to Katrina’s plaintiffs. This would be a two frame cartoon. The first frame is a close up of the three singing, smiling, and winking at each other as if to say, “Yeah, buddy, we’re singing in perfect harmony . . . just like always!”

The second would capture the filled-to-capacity auditorium whose audience is up on their feet walking out on the trio’s performance. The trio is screaming, “Where is everybody going?!” Turning to each other, audience members are saying, “Who has that number to the Scruggs Katrina Group?” “I’m calling my attorney when I get home. These guys were handing us a line of you-know-what.”

So what do we do about an industry that is the only game in town to insure us? Two things come to mind.

First, Gulf Coast Congressman Gene Taylor (D-MS) introduced a bill to expand the federal flood insurance program to include all natural perils. Since these private corporations don’t want to keep their word to us, we can change the rules of the game and end the industry’s gravy train. This is within our power. It is up to us to do our part in ending this legal thievery. Following the rules established under the leadership of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Congressman Gene Taylor’s legislation requires that the program be financially self-sufficient. Good. It should be.

Today’s political hell raising activity will help us provide real all perils insurance for Americans.

We can call and email our congressional representatives to request that they co-sponsor H.R.920, which is called the Multiple Peril Insurance Act of 2007. Raising a little political hell together, we can protect everyone’s families from being soaked by insurance companies.

The second thing that comes to mind is this. For our own purpose, we use the power of Bloody Mary’s happy talk advice. It’s good advice upon which the filmmakers of The Secret have expounded. I’m a big fan of both The Secret and the song "Happy Talk". The Secret is a DVD that introduces the concept of the Law of Attraction, the idea that what we think about with emotion we will attract and manifest into our lives. Bloody Mary conceptualizes this idea in her song. Talk happy, be happy.

State Farm and Allstate talk happy statistics in hopes to make their dream of scamming us come true.

We can talk in terms of quick and fair settlements. We can talk about a quick and just outcome of the racketeering lawsuit to punish insurance corporations that have harmed families and friends in the Katrina-ravaged region. We can talk about passing the Multiple Peril Insurance Act so that when a tornado rips through or an earthquake swallows or a hurricane demolishes or a flood drowns our home, we really will know that we are in good hands. We really will know that our insurance coverage will be there, just like a good neighbor.

For those who are unfamiliar with or for those who simply want to go down memory lane, below you will find South Pacific’s “Happy Talk” video on YouTube. Go on. Push the button. We all can stand to memorize this song. That way, when we a naysayer like the apologists for State Farm and Allstate start singing their fictitious statistical song, we just remember that these days, we’re singing to our own tune.

South Pacific's Happy Talk"

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Valuing America’s Families

Early yesterday morning before the sun rose high in the sky to beam its beautiful—and hot as Hades—rays upon the Mississippi Gulf Coast, I put in a couple of hours sanding base boards and such. The sander fits my tiny hand pretty well, and its light weight nature makes it easy on me. I’ve been dealing with it for a number of days by now, and I guess, that I’m getting pretty good with it and pretty fast with the process. I will confess, however, I DO . . . NOT . . . LIKE . . . doing this.

I’m a petite woman with an extremely high energy level and whose well toned and agile muscles are located between my ears rather than in my physical body. On more than one occasion in my life, I’ve been told I have more energy than the Energizer Bunny. This has come in mighty handy throughout the years when I’ve had to go long hours in electoral campaigns or in the corporate world. However, this post-Katrina physical labor wears . . . me . . . out.

I find myself becoming a bit agitated with it and a bit grumpy at the challenge that doing this kind of work creates. In my exhausted stupor—which comes in full speed about 2 hours after I happily crank up the sander, I always think of those in this Katrina-ravaged area who have been here dealing with the physical, emotional, and financial toll the hurricane imposed.

In addition to that, I think about the betrayal everyone has felt from a White House occupant who remained on vacation while Katrina gathered strength and did nothing to help the states, cities, and the Gulf Coast and New Orleans residents in the face of what was about to happen. And who still does nothing to help with anything remotely resembling good old fashioned leadership.

Then to have the insurance companies deliberately betray consumer trust and outright refuse to cover legitimate claims had to have been another nightmare.

I cannot imagine what it must have been like to watch as your home was swept away with the ferocious winds or the wind driven water . . . or to learn that all that you have left of your life is the set of clothes you and your family packed for the few days you thought it would take to return home or to watch, as my own family members did, water come into a home that has been a safe haven for its entire 43-year existence.

So many homes are gone. We were lucky because the family home remained standing though the roof poured water into the attic and water rose four and a half feet or so and placed about 8 inches in the house itself. I reflect on the various stories I’ve been privileged to learn.

Southern Hospitality, Goldie Locks, and Through the Looking Glass
A few weeks after I arrived for what I had intended to be a short visit back in March of this year, I attended a St. Patrick’s Day event at the local Internet Café, the Mockingbird Café. My brother Michael introduced me to two women who were sisters. For a time, their dad had carpooled to work with our dad. Both of our dads worked at Avondale Shipyards, some 90 minutes away—one way, if the roads were clear and there was no fog, rain, or other intemperate weather as is often the case in these parts.

Anyway, let’s call one of the sister’s Mary. Mary told me her Katrina story. As the storm proceeded to rain upon this area, she, her kids, and her best friend ended up crawling into the attic and eventually on to the roof to escape the water. She said that they were holding on for dear life. They noticed that a lot of houses were floating by them. Shocked, of course, at this entire nightmare, there greatest shock was soon to dawn upon them as they realized that the other houses were NOT floating at all.

Rather it was THEIR house that was floating away with them holding on for dear life! Mary tod me her story without choking up. Rather, in typical fashion for the New Orleans and Mississippi Gulf Coast region, she was laughing.

Indeed, a sense of humor about the whole Katrina experience wards off the adverse effects of the stress of the storm and the betrayal experienced at the hands of the Bush Administration’s failed FEMA leadership as well as the hands of the insurance industry.

After Katrina passed, Mary and her family went looking for others in the area. No one was around. They went to a neighbor’s house whose second story was still in good condition. They showered and slept. She said that she knew very well that her neighbors would welcome their presence. Before they left, they took care to make the beds. Sort of like Southern hospitality and manners meets Goldie Locks and the Three Bears in an Alice-in-Wonderland-Through-the-Looking-Glass reality.

Katrina Fatigue
So as I am feeling the exhaustion and a myriad of other things, I imagine what it is like for anyone who actually stayed and went through the storm itself. I need go no further than my own family. Two of my brothers stayed at the house through Katrina.

Why, you ask?

Because historically it has been the safest place in the county. Built in 1962, it has gone through every hurricane relatively unscathed save knocking down the trees. Camille did a bit of roof damage, but nothing traumatic.

After Katrina, my brothers pulled up carpet, tore out walls, helped out neighbors. My brother from New Orleans also went back to the city to check on and deal with his own house there, the home of his daughter’s mother, and various relatives and friends. To this day, he has been unable to get a plumber to show up and install the new hot water heater he has had for quite a long time.

A friend of mine recently visited the Gulf Coast for a work meeting. He remarked that he felt that folks down here were experiencing Katrina Fatigue. Yes, of course, they are. An overall sense of abandonment is almost palpable.

We’re the greatest nation on Earth, but since the current set of folks moved into our White House, caring about the American people and our families evaporated as surely as if Katrina herself had blown away such a traditional notion.

We like to pride ourselves on American ingenuity, our stick-to-itiveness. Yet, the national dialogue on our public airwaves focuses on Paris Hilton’s time in the slammer rather than the imprisoned feeling Katrina’s survivors are experiencing after the storm slammed these shores.

We are the wealthiest nation on the planet with a White House that loves to cloak itself with religious overtones, yet neglecting the real and ongoing needs is its modus operandi. Having returned to the town of my upbringing, I recall easily the songs we sang at Mass while I was growing up. (Please excuse the sexism.) But the words go like this. “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me.” I guess Bush and his callous conservative crowd skipped those lessons.

For many of us inside and out of this Katrina-ravaged region, we understand the universal message of caring for others, being of service to others, giving a helping hand to those whose hand we can so easily touch . . . if only we would.

The current Administration talks of compassion, they don’t “do” compassion. It talks of American ingenuity and uses our famed “can-do” spirit to its own end, but it places unnecessary obstacles that prohibits our American can-do spirit . . . from doing.

Had we had a different federal leadership coming out of the Oval Office, one that would have been appropriate to the situation, then the folks living through Katrina and picking up the pieces afterwards to put together their lives would have been spared the lunacy and hardship of the “you’re on your own” homeland security policy that the Bush White House implemented.

As I continue my part in renovating my mom’s home, I think about the hardships of my friends and family as well as those of everyone I have met. This puts my personal experience into a larger context that keeps me focused on an attitude of gratitude for what my family has as I continue to wonder . . .

How would these incredible and unnecessary hardships from Bush’s FEMA and the insurance industry have been avoided had we had positive, healthy, appropriate White House leadership? The current administration spits out the phrase “family values” as if a punch line in a joke.

The leadership we had expected would have implemented innovative policies—including aggressively taking on the insurance industry—that demonstrated it really did value America’s families. This kind of White House leadership would have removed rather than placed obstacles in our way. This kind of White House leadership would have unleashed America’s can-do spirit, that uniquely American trait that inspires our ingenuity. That’s the American way.

With a White House leadership that implemented solid policies which valued America’s families, the Katrina fatigue that my friend so keenly observed this past weekend would have been a joyful exhaustion from having worked fast and furiously to rebuild so quickly, to reconstruct our homes, communities, and cities with vision and energy, and to rebound with vitality and vigor.

That’s the America we love, the America we respect, the America we trust. That’s the America in our hearts.

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State Farm, Partners, and RICO: What a Racket!

[At end of this piece are additional resources on the RICO case including a video of the press conference annoucing this historical lawsuit.]

I’m not talking tennis either. The whirlwind of news swirling about is almost dizzying. Shortly after Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast and breached the New Orleans’ levees, rumors floated around implying that the insurance companies would rig their claims process to wiggle out of paying what was owed to Paula and Peter Policyholders.

I thought to myself how criminal and cruel, heartless and calculating the people running a corporation would have to be to actually pull off something like this.

I envisioned a set of companies passing back and forth among themselves responsibility for the Katrina claims. I had thought this would be a way to shift its costs to other companies depending on which of them had the flood insurance policies. I was unaware that the private insurance corporations had bailed out of the flood insurance business some forty years ago.

I didn’t realize that our U.S. Government was taking care of what the private market neglected. When corporations failed to fill the market needs of American families and business owners, the federal government stepped in. Indeed, a lesson in the absurdity of arguing in favor of straight up laissez faire economics.

What I had envisioned was in the right direction of what occurred. I just didn’t realize that the US taxpayers would get stuck with the private corporations’ bill.

Courageous Whistleblowers Step Forward
Thankfully, two courageous women—Cori and Kerri Rigsby—blew the whistle on what has turned out to be a scenario worse than imagined. These very brave Rigsby sisters came forward with evidence that allegedly proves that State Farm defrauded policyholders by manipulating engineers' reports so that claims could be denied.

Photo of Cori and Kerri Rigsby

ABC News was able to obtain a copy from State Farm files of the original FAEC damage report, which included the image of an attached "Post-it" note that read, "Put in wind file - do not pay bill - do not discuss"

Below is a post it note on a file that appears to embody the essence of the allegations.

Cori and Kerri Rigsby turned to attorney Richard Scruggs to represent them. A few years back, Scruggs had won his fight against Big Tobacco costing the cigarette industry a “$246 billion settlement to help states defray Medicaid costs for smoking-related illnesses.”

The sisters say they ultimately printed out and copied roughly 15,000 pages of claims records. In addition to providing the material to Scruggs, they say they gave copies to Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood and U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton's offices on June 5, the same day they told a supervisor they were cooperating with Scruggs. For eight years, Cori and Kerri Rigby had managed State Farm claims adjuster teams.

Of course, State Farm is doing everything it can to suppress the use of this information in any legal proceeding. Doesn’t this sound just like they took a page straight out of the playbook for their Republican buddies in the White House?

Remember how the Administration went ballistic when we learned that someone in Bush’s employ had leaked the identity of CIA undercover operative? The White House wasn’t upset that someone had betrayed the country and put at risk Valerie Plame’s life and all those with whom she was associated as well as compromised her work on weapons of mass destruction. No ma’am. Bush and his team were upset that they had been caught. Well, this is the same game State Farm seems to be playing.

Racketeering
On Wednesday, June 20,2007, the Scruggs Katrina Group filed a federal lawsuit against State Farm and its corporate partners alleging the corporations were violating the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization Act, which most of us have heard of as RICO. State Farm worked with “Forensic Analysis & Engineering Corp. of Raleigh, N.C., and E.A. Renfroe Co. Inc. of Hoover, Ala. Forensic's engineers inspected homes for State Farm, while Renfroe helped the company adjust claims.”

The Scruggs Katrina Group characterized the complaint as "a story of how State Farm and its web of surrogate companies conspired to deny claims that should be paid by State Farm and to shift liability to the federal-funded flood insurance program. Actions taken by State Farm and conspirators included:

• threatening experts who disagreed with their desired result
• concealing information that would work in the policyholder's favor destroying or falsifying reports
• placing pressure on engineers to use scientifically inaccurate and deceptive language
• firing engineers who refused to be corrupted inventing a new policy to exclude all hurricane damage
• using their strength and size to intimidate policyholders in the mediation process

My God alive! Racketeering charges against an insurance company that is known for its jingle claiming “just like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.”

“I've never seen a smoking gun this good, even in the tobacco litigation when I'd thought I'd seen it all,” Scruggs said in an interview. “They collaborated to defeat valid homeowner claims through rigged engineering reports and biased adjusting.”

Boy oh boy. This is sounding more and more like the Bush Administration’s kind of friends. For an analysis of the obscene amount of money the insurance industry invests in Republican candidates, see Soaking U.S. Taxpayers.

Where’s the Federal Probe?
The Rigsby sisters had turned over their documentation to both the state attorney general and the U.S. Attorney. Just over a week ago, Mississippi’s Attorney General Jim Hood, a good Democrat, filed a lawsuit against State Farm for breach of contract. [See State Farm Paying Attorney Fee for Miss. Insurance Commissioner]. As part of that contract, Hood had agreed to drop the state’s criminal probe into State Farm. With State Farm’s alleged breach, Hood has not ruled out reopening the criminal probe.

The Sun Herald reported that the U.S. Attorney’s Office has subpoenaed records from Nationwide Insurance, State Farm, and Allstate. The paper also reported “records indicate a grand jury is hearing evidence. Grand jury proceedings are secret and don't necessarily result in criminal charges.”

I feel the public is in good hands with Attorney General Jim Hood and attorney groups like the Scruggs Katrina Group. But I have reservations when it comes to the federal probe.

In September 2001, George W. Bush appointed Dunn Lampton, a Republican, as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi. The Clarion-Ledger reported that Lampton was allegedly on a White House 2005 hit list for canning U.S. Attorneys. When asked why he would be on the list, Lampton said, “I don’t have a clue.”

How’s about this for a clue, Mr. Lampton? Your office has subpoenaed documents from three of the big insurance companies: State Farm, Allstate, and Nationwide. Your office has convened a grand jury in the federal probe of these companies … and if that isn’t plenty enough, you just successfully concluded the criminal conviction of “reputed Klansman James Ford Seale [for] kidnapping and conspiracy in the 1964 deaths of two black teenagers in southwest Mississippi.”

I applaud you for bringing justice to the families who have endured immense and unthinkable pain for the last 33 years. Bush’s lapdog Gonzales and his minions found out that you were not one of them. I’m quite sure that the compassionless folks in the White House do not share your sense of justice, your values. I think it’s probably quite safe to say that you are a bit out of sync with the Republican leadership, and once again, for this, I applaud you. You have brought justice to these families and a sense of closure for their wounds.

I hope that you will pursue with equal vigor your probe into the alleged criminal behavior of the corporations that have brought a different kind of unthinkable pain and suffering to the families of all racial and ethnic backgrounds here along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

To top it all off, Mr. Lampton, you’ve stirred up a hornets nest with pursuing a public campaign for gun control. Bravely, you yourself were featured in this public service television spot. As I’ve already stated twice and now shall do so for a third time, I applaud you, Mr. Lampton. This was the right thing to do. However, the Bushies do not share your values, sir. Even though you are a Republican, this may be yet another reason that your name was on Gonzales’ hit list for the political purging of the Justice department.

Be strong, Mr. Lampton. The people of South Mississippi, and for that matter throughout this country, need an honest to God federal investigation into the insurance racket.

Whether it’s the White House once again squirming out of taking responsibility for its own wrongdoing in the political firings of U.S. Attorneys or one of the Bush Administration’s partner industries spinning its PR to cover up their corporate corruption, we need strong public leadership.

What the insurance companies have done to the people of Mississippi and New Orleans will continue to happen to anyone of us anywhere in the country until we bring together every resource to end what is essentially a legal mob ring.

While the legal eagles are taking care of their responsibilities in our grand democratic scheme of government, we can also do our part to put all of our families on safer ground after natural disasters.

Since the insurance companies are obviously bowing out of taking care of the customers, the ultimate remedy is to expand the federal government’s flood insurance program to include all natural perils. Gulf Coast Congressman Gene Taylor (D-MS) introduced the Multiple Peril Insurance Act of 2007. (The bill is H.R. 920.)We can partner with Congressman Taylor to take the wind out of the insurance industry. You know what that means! It's political hell raising time again. We can call and email our own congressional representatives to request that they co-sponsor the Multiple Peril Insurance Act of 2007.

Taking these steps is how we begin to break up this insurance racket so that each of us and our families will truly be in good hands.

__________________________________________________________

Watch the press conference (Quicktime) high-res low-res
Download and install Quicktime to view videos .

Press Release Statement of Atty. Don Barrett
Summary of the case (PDF) Concise Statement (PDF)
Court Documents: Shows vs. State Farm
Original Complaint (PDF) Exhibits (PDF) Note: These are large files and may take over a minute to load.

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Wind? Water? More like a Bunch of Hot Air!

Ever since the last drop of Katrina rain passed through the Gulf Coast and the water receded after the levees burst in New Orleans, the insurance industry has been hell bent on implementing at full throttle its great American rip off program. In no time flat did those who had likened their company to good neighbors or to the security of being in good hands issue written instructions on how to maximize what seems to have been their goal: blame Katrina’s damage on flooding.

Let me help the insurance industry become crystal clear on this point. This was a H-U-R-R-I-C-A-N-E! We didn’t call this Katrina, the flood. We didn’t call this Katrina, the tornado. We didn’t call this Katrina, the storm surge. Everybody calls it . . . H-U-R-R-I-C-A-N-E Katrina. Capiche? Now let’s get technical.

The National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAO) states on its hurricane preparedness website that “[h]urricane hazards come in many forms: storm surge, high winds, tornadoes, and flooding.”

In other words, a hurricane is a natural disaster consisting of both wind and water. How does one slice and dice the impact of one on the other and the amount of damage directly attributable to each?

Gulf Coast Congressman Gene Taylor (D-MS) testified before Congress that insurance companies were choosing not to pay on claims unless the policy holder provided an eye witness. [See Video: Katrina Insurance Claims Hearing: Rep. Taylor Testimony on the homepage of A.M. in the Morning!]

Can you believe this?! Unethical,? Of course. Heartless? Obviously. Ruthless? Evidently. Maniacal and Evil? Absolutely.

Stupid? No. These corporate execs who made the decision to blame Katrina’s damage on water comes out of value system foreign to most of us of any religious or spiritual background. Seems these execs live in a decency-free bubble where their god, the Almighty Dollar, reigns supreme. There will be no conversions. So, forget any lofty notions of that sort.

What we need are two things. First, we must fully understand how they are getting away with this horrendous travesty. Second, we must understand and implement what we can do to prevent its continuation.

Look, they know how to play us and play the politicians. Moreover, they know how to take advantage of the conflicts of interest that are inherent in the U.S. Government’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

Yesterday’s piece titled Scamming Policyholders & Taxpayers reported that our federal government has been in the flood insurance business since 1968. The private insurance companies pretty much got out of the flood insurance business “because of the catastrophic and unpredictable nature of floods.” In 1983, the federal government turned over to the private insurance industry the selling, servicing, and adjusting of those policies and claims. This may have been a fine arrangement for those natural disasters that dealt with floods only.

However, when it comes to a hurricane which by its very nature simultaneously involves several types of natural calamities such as storm surge, high winds, tornadoes, and flooding, a conflict of interest rises when it is the private insurance companies that are determining whether damage would be covered by them or by the federal taxpayers. In this instance, the conflict of interest is $23 billion.

So far, claims paid out on Katrina add up to $64 billion— and this amount only accounts for those who’ve been paid on their claims through 2006. By the end of last year, the private insurance companies had paid $41 billion. These same companies essentially handed a $23 billion bill to American taxpayers for damages that these private companies determined flood waters had caused. How generous that the private insurance industry only stiffed us for 36% of the bill.

What a racket! But could companies really be that methodically maniacal to stiff its own customers and the American taxpayers to the tune of at least $23 billion?!

On his official government website, Gulf Coast Congressman Gene Taylor (D-MS) has an incredible collection of “documents that suggest fraud by insurance companies in the handling of Katrina wind and water claims.” The doozies below are from Nationwide, State Farm, and Allstate.

9/4/2005: Nationwide instructed its adjusters that “if loss is caused by both flood and wind there is no coverage.”

9/13/2005: State Farm instructed adjusters that “where wind acts concurrently with flooding to cause damage to the insured property, coverage for the loss exists only under flood coverage.”

6/28/2006: On-site damage assessment by engineer Jerome Quintero of Rimkus Consulting Group for Allstate… concluded that there was “insufficient physical evidence to determine the proportion of wind versus storm surge that destroyed the structure.”

11/4/2005: Jerome Quintero’s damage assessment after revision by Rimkus staff who never visited the site. Quintero’s conclusion of “insufficient physical evidence” was changed to “storm surge and waves destroyed the residence.” Quintero’s name was signed to the revised report without his knowledge.

So there we have it. In the three examples, Nationwide, State Farm, and Allstate seem to be essentially instructing its adjusters to blame Hurricane Katrina’s damage on water alone thereby sticking the American taxpayers with an inflated $23 billion bill.

We haven’t even begun to talk about the rebuilding costs that weren’t covered at all or the folks who didn’t have flood insurance because they believed their policy provided adequate coverage. We haven’t touched on the fact that many like my own family are not in an official flood zone and may not have purchased flood insurance.

What is important, though, is to recognize that what the insurance companies are doing to New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast can happen to over half the population of our country.

“Populations and built environments in coastal watersheds are growing rapidly, with 55 percent of the U.S. population already living within 50 miles of the coast.”

“The Coastal Community Development Partnership”

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

The Coastal Community Development Partnership brings together NOAA and EPA offices to better support state and local governments as they promote safer and smarter development along the coast.



The name of the game is to be informed and to take action.

Yesterday, we discussed the need to eliminate the insurance industry’s exemption from the anti-trust law governing business throughout our country. Right now, the Senate is considering the Insurance Industry Competition Act (S. 618), which will make it illegal for the insurance companies to collude with each other for things like price fixing and claims adjustment. Go here to tell your two U.S. Senators that you support the Insurance Industry Competition Act.

Today, we take action to protect ourselves from the inherent conflict of interest created because the insurance industry gets to determine for our federal government the amount of damage allegedly attributable to flooding at the same time the private insurance industry is determining the damage at the same property that it will attribute to wind.

Congressman Taylor has introduced H.R. 920, which amends the National Flood Insurance Program. In his testimony before Congress, he stated, “in response to the fact that the insurance industry apparently no longer wants to over people for wind damage in coastal America, or will not provide that coverage at a cost that is reasonable, I am asking you to consider legislation that will expand the National Flood Insurance Program to include all natural perils.”

Taylor explains that under the rules of the House of Representatives, the insurance plan would have to be financed in a way that pays for itself. “Thus, any argument that this would be taxpayer-subsidized would be eliminated. Under the new rules of the House, that is not an option.” What Taylor is referring to is that when the Democrats were swept into office last November, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi instituted strong fiscal controls on spending. She ended the fiscally irresponsible era under Republican leadership.

Lastly, Taylor stated, “This problem affects thousands of people. Quite frankly, people should be encouraged to get out of coastal areas in a time of a storm, rather than encouraged to stick behind with a camera to record the event.” Amen to that!

Speaking of the Amen Corner, former Congressional Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA), that compassionless conservative crony, has already come out against national disaster insurance. What a shock! The only thing those so-called conservatives are interested in is conserving their power.

During the apex of his reign in Congress, Gingrich accepted almost $425,000 in political contributions from the insurance industry coffers. Newt being a mouthpiece for an industry that has so blazingly betrayed the American people and her families isn’t all that shocking these days.
And just as the wind got knocked out Newt’s political sails, we can partner with Congressman Taylor to take the wind out of the insurance industry’s selling to us wind insurance policies on which they fail to appropriately pay out after a natural disaster.

Today, we can call and email our congressional representatives to request that they co-sponsor H.R.920, which is called the Multiple Peril Insurance Act of 2007.

After all, the more this private industry continues to push their wind vs. water rationale, the more it sounds like nothing more than a bunch of hot air.

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When You’re Up to Your Ass in Alligators . . .

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Nine-foot gator caught near homes in Waveland

Geographically and culturally speaking, the Mississippi Gulf Coast shares a great deal with our neighboring South Louisiana region. Of course, the gnats and mosquitoes travel miles without regard to geography. The more exotic habitat such as alligators and the like in bayou country up the road is simply not part of the beach town ambiance.

So when a 9½ foot alligator was found in a ditch of three feet of water near a school bus stop in Waveland, Miss., I thought to myself, “what the $#%&!”


Here’s the deal. After Katrina, the state of Mississippi loaned the Gulf Coast’s cities $79 million for cleaning up the hurricane’s debris. Some of the cities on the eastern coastline have rebounded enough to recover the loan money from its tax revenues. That isn’t the case with Waveland and Bay St. Louis.

Of the $79 million, Waveland received a $4.5 million loan, my hometown of Bay St. Louis received an $8 million loan, and the Bay-Waveland school district received an $11.5 million loan. Those debts—plus interest—are due in October, barely two years after the nation’s worst natural disaster in our history demolished these cities. Remember, these were two of the three tiny beach towns that comprise Katrina’s ground zero.

What impact will the demand for the money have on these tiny coastal beach towns?

Waveland and Bay St. Louis won’t have the money to fix drainage problems. Today, Waveland has four public works employees; however it had 27 employees prior to Katrina. Without money, the drainage problems will persist. The real life consequences endanger everyone, including children. Regarding the alligator near the bus stop, Waveland Mayor Tommy Longo said "You think those parents weren't ticked?"

In Bay St. Louis “street paving projects and drainage work that would solve the city's flooding problems will be put on hold or canceled until the debt can be repaid, Mayor Eddie Favre said,” reported The Clarion-Ledger. The Bay won’t have money to hire police and firefighters or put up street lights either. You know, the basics for residential and business development.

In a debate on the House floor, Gulf Coast Congressman Gene Taylor (D-MS) characterized the fiscal strength of “little towns like Waveland, Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, that have no tax base because their stores were destroyed in the storm, a county like Hancock County, where 90% of the residents lost everything, or at least substantial damage to their home . . . .” [See the video. Quite an education in Republican tactics, priorities, and values.] Yet somehow the towns are supposed to come up with money for this epic-sized natural disaster cleanup. Part of the “you’re on your own” Republican view of government, I suppose.

Hold on there. Isn’t this one of the reasons we pay federal taxes?“What’s not happening here is indicative of a dysfunctional government, and that affects everyone. That’s why folks throughout the country should be concerned about the recovery process. We are all for a highly efficient, functional government, and what we have is its diametrical opposite.

“We are already paying the taxes for all the services you could hope to have available in emergency disaster situations like Katrina. And we’re not getting it. We have to take this back and hold the government accountable.”

— Michael Rosato, owner, Cinemagic Audio-Video.

The Bush Administration has not ensured that it is reimbursing Mississippi and Louisiana for its recovery costs. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA—that four letter word, again) is withholding the money. The administration insists that the towns and cities of Mississippi and Louisiana paid too much money to remove Katrina’s debris. When Bush vetoed the Iraq Accountability Act, he vetoed money for Katrina relief including waiving the matching requirement that is putting a great deal of unnecessary burden on the towns and cities in the Katrina-ravaged area.

How ironic that the White House that is hell bent on handing no bid multi-billion dollar contracts to the largest Bush-Cheney campaign contributors (i.e. Halliburton) would insist that in the days after Katrina, the areas impacted would have to go through a traditional bidding process complete with re-bidding should the cost be pricey.

The administration is noticeably silent on paying Riley Bechtel, another major campaign contributor, to transport FEMA trailers 70 miles at a gargantuan price of $16,000 per trailer. Yet, Bush’s FEMA is holding these city and county officials to a standard that is unfair given the extraordinary circumstances.

I’m a former management auditor for the state of Tennessee and the city of San Francisco, and we followed the Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS), also known as the Yellow Book. I fully agree that the traditional bidding process should be followed with very few exceptions. Clearly, the worst natural disaster in our history qualifies for this exception.

Heck, after 20 months of looking for a contractor to renovate our family home, we were ecstatic when we found someone. Yes, it would be very nice to have gotten several bids and negotiate hard like we would under regular circumstances. But these circumstances are soooooo out of the ordinary. We’re grateful to have someone whose work we trust, whom we feel is trustworthy, and who will get to it quickly.

Surely to goodness, with Bush’s FEMA being AWOL in Katrina’s wake, these towns and cities did the best they could.

St. Bernard Parish, La., just outside New Orleans, is among the communities waiting for a check. FEMA paid the parish about $100 million for debris removal but still owes about $70 million, said David Peralta, the parish's chief administrative officer. St. Bernard also is waiting for $30 million in reimbursement for sewer repairs, Peralta said.

Peralta said FEMA has "kind of implied" that it is looking into whether the parish paid reasonable rates. Peralta defended the Katrina contracts, saying officials tried
to solicit competitive bids without delaying the work.

"We didn't have a whole lot of choices in those first few days," he said.

Look, we have a great saying down here. When you’re up to your ass in alligators, it’s hard to remember that the point was to drain the swamp. In this instance, Mississippi and Louisiana are painfully cognizant of all that needs to be done to restore the region to its pre-Katrina vibrancy including taking care of the drainage problems.

While the Bush Administration chooses to be caught up with the dumb ass—another colorful Southern phrase, we can choose to focus our attention on a few things at our fingertips that will help drain the political swamp in Washington, DC, particularly the White House.

You know what that means? It’s political hell-raising time! Molly Ivins would be so proud.

Cal your congressional representative and two U.S. Senators to request that they work with Gulf Coast Congressman Gene Taylor (D-MS) and Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) to resolve this issue favorably on behalf of Katrina’s survivors.

Go here for phone script to use when calling your U.S. Senators. Go here for a letter to email. Here is a link to find contact information on your U.S. Senators.

Go here for phone script to use when calling your U.S. Congressional Representative. Go here for a letter to email. Here is a link to find contact information on your Congressional Representative.
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Decency in DC

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Republicans love to preach about morals and decency. Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich on the importance of marital fidelity. Newt has admitted to cheating on his wife at around the same time the House was impeaching President Bill Clinton over his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Disgraced Republican Congressman Mark Foley resigned amid allegations that he himself had engaged in or attempted to engage in an inappropriate relationship with an under aged teen in the Congressional Page program. Foley had chaired the House caucus on missing and exploited children and was a champion of sexual predator legislation

Another fine example of a Republican behaving badly erupted on the House floor toward the end of March. This time it was all about what constitutes decency in Washington, DC.

Earning himself membership credits in the Bush–Shill-and-Mouthpiece-Club, Georgia Republican Congressman Tom Price took to the floor on March 27th to help stick it to the families struggling to put their lives back together after Hurricane Katrina. This compassionless conservative sought to restrict housing reconstruction funds for low-income families living in Katrina-ravaged areas of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and New Orleans.

Price wanted to require the demolished local communities to raise matching funds before the Bush Administration provided financial assistance to these low-income Southern residents who are struggling today within horrendous conditions that federal dollars can help alleviate.

Mind you, there is NO tax base from which to raise monies for matching funds. Capiche?! None. Zip. Nada. Democratic Congressman Gene Taylor, whose district covers the entire Gulf Coast of Mississippi, eloquently informed Mr. Price of the dire circumstances of life after Katrina.

“. . . little towns like Waveland, Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, that have no tax base because their stores were destroyed in the storm, a county like Hancock County, where 90% of the residents lost everything, or at least substantial damage to their home, he wants to punish Bay St. Louis, he wants to punish Waveland, he wants to punish Pass Christian for mistakes of the Bush dministration.”

[See the video. Quite an education in Republican tactics, priorities, and values.]

Price, an obvious compassionless conservative Bush crony, has not even had the decency to visit any of the many Katrina-ravaged communities. He is speaking without understanding what the situation is. Perhaps he doesn’t care what the situation is down here on the ground.

Nevertheless, he had the audacity to cloak his disdain for the good people of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans through feigning concern for government waste, fraud and abuse. [Read: Investing federal tax dollars in rebuilding New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast is waste of money.] Since Democrats represent these good people in Congress, the people's house, Price's display of Republican charity reveals a partisan tinge. Price’s amendment failed in a 98-333 vote.

The first day I arrived here in Bay St. Louis, my younger brother drove me around to see what life is like some 19 months after the storm. Going down Beach Boulevard, he whipped into a dirt driveway and parked. This was the lot where Congressman Gene Taylor‘s home had been before Katrina destroyed it completely. In the back of the lot, new construction for a home was evident. Up the stairs we went. The Taylors were working on their home.Margaret Taylor, the congressman’s wife, told me that during the storm, they had gone to stay with family . . . and today that is where they remain.

The Taylors have received not one dime of insurance money. Not a dime.

As Margaret and I spoke, the congressman was busy hammering away. They are building their tiny home themselves literally. [See Sidebar: Gulf Coast Congressman Gene Taylor—Sticks and Stones: Rebuilding Our Future] In front of Congressman Taylor's house is a hand-painted sign that express clearly his sentiments: “Allstate & State Farm, Axis of Evil.”




Congressman Gene Taylor's sign in his front yard of what used to be his home in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Photo by Ana Maria Rosato taken May 25, 2007.




So when an obtuse individual holding the power of a congressional office pretends to be concerned mostly that the families whose incomes, homes, jobs, and places of worship have been demolished by Katrina may engage in waste, fraud, and abuse rather than worrying about the families themselves, Taylor’s response becomes understandable.

Immediately, right there on the floor of the House of Representatives, Democratic Congressman Gene Taylor filleted Price expertly. [Watch the video.]

"If you want to look for Katrina fraud, look for the Katrina fraud that was perpetrated by the Bush administration. In south Mississippi at one point we had 40,000 people living in FEMA trailers, we're grateful for every one of them. But those trailers were delivered by a friend of the president by the name of Riley Bechtel, a major contributor to Bush administration. He got $16,000 to haul a trailer the last 70 miles from Purvis, Miss., down to the Gulf Coast, hook it up to a garden hose, hook it up to a sewer tap, and plug it in, $16,000. So the gentleman never came to the floor once last year to talk about that fraud.

* * * Mr. Price, I wish you'd have the decency, if you're going to do that to the people of south Mississippi, that maybe you ought to come visit south Mississippi, and see what has happened, before you hold them to a standard you would never hold your own people to, and that you fail to hold the Bush administration to."

Then Price had the nerve to demand that Taylor’s remarks be stricken from the record AND take away for the rest of the day, Taylor’s ability to speak on the House floor.

Why? Taylor used the word “decency.” That’s right. Price wasn’t concerned about the indecency of his own proposal. He wasn’t concerned about the indecent conditions that the good people living in Katrina ravaged country endure daily because of the Bush Administration's despicable and deliberate neglect.

Price was concerned with etiquette and courtesy extended to himself. As you watch the clip, notice how Price’s hissy fit over etiquette and courtesy ended up interrupting congressional action by well over an hour. His indecent proposal wasted time and money while insulting every family and business owner on the Gulf Coast and within the New Orleans area. Immediately, Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced a motion to restore Taylor’s right to speak for the rest of the day, and Frank’s motion passed on a 265-160 vote. Republicans objected to the decency of restoring Taylor's speaking privileges. Afterall, Taylor actually knows first hand of Katrina's ravages and the suffering of families here on the ground. God forbid that they have to endure hearing how the federal government can be a force for good in the lives of these American families, business owners, communities.

Price should have been ashamed of himself for the indecency of demonstrating to the world his uninformed opinion and wholly uncompassionate position. It was Mr. Price who should have kept his own mouth shut for the remainder of the day.

He should have immediately made arrangements to take leave of absence from his office to come down here to see for himself what the situation is. Frankly, he should try living for weeks or months on end in one of those FEMA trailers. You may be thinking that these are house sized trailers. Surprise! They are more like camper trailers in which families and extended families have been living since the storm.

Personally, I am appalled at the indecency that the Bush Administration and its congressional cronies continually display. Decorum over decency, that’s what Price and his ReTHUGlican buddies advocated that day in March.

What everyone down here needs is decent leadership from a White House that will demonstrate it cares by moving heaven, hell, and earth to rebuild our communities, our towns, and our beloved New Orleans.

Rather than a lesson in congressional etiquette, Mr. Price, the folks down here need real federal leadership and federal money that actually gets where it was intended to go and does what it was intended to do. Since Price and some of his Republican buddies have no clue what to do to
rebuild with compassion, here’s a novel idea.

Ask Congressman Gene Taylor what it is going to take.

In the meantime, the rest of us can act on the advice that the great Molly Ivins provided. In her column Time to go long, Molly Ivins, another Southern hero of mine, said it best. "Sit up, join up, stir it up, get online, get in touch, find out who's raising hell and join them. No use waiting on a bunch of wussy politicians."

She must have had in mind politicians like Price.

From one hell raiser (yours truly) to the next (that would be you, dear beloved reader), how’s about calling your congressional representative to request that she/he seek Taylor’s advice on how to rebuild on the Gulf Coast and to collaborate with him. Heck, let's go one better and
provide Taylors' office number in Washington, DC. 202 225-5772. Most likely you'll be talking with a staffer when you call. Here's a script you can use. Look up here your representatives contact information.

Letting your fingers do the walking is an easy way to do an important and effective political activity. Call your reps and just ask them to listen to Congressman Taylor, because . . . it’s the decent thing to do.

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