Not Buying Bush's Buyout Plan

Man kayaking with dog on Flagler Avenue by the Salvation Army store: Key West, Florida (2005) The flood waters were the result of Hurricane Wilma. Original photo here.

[Photo is part of an] "exhibit contain[ing] selected images from over 5,000 slides and photographs in the Dale M. McDonald Collection which document art exhibits, businesses, boating events, attractions, community events, landscapes, residences, and street scenes in Key West." Firefighter and photographer Dale McDonald was born in Key West, Florida on October 2, 1949.

by Ana Maria

Yesterday’s news carried story after story—many posted here in my blog—of the continuing drumbeat about Bush’s government apparatus stating that federal buyouts of homes along the Mississippi Gulf Coast is the agenda on the table. Some reported that the plan is now extending into Louisiana. All this unnecessary upset for a regional area that has already been through hell and back.

I loved Congressman Gene Taylor’s response,

"Five words: 'It ain't going to happen,' " says Rep. Gene Taylor (D) of Mississippi, who's in the midst of rebuilding his Bay St. Louis home. "There's no money for it, there's no will for it, and there's no public support for it. That's 0 for 3."

Can it be merely coincidental that Bush’s buyout plan is targeting the hometown of the man spearheading the effort to ensure that whenever an American family or business owner purchases insurance for both wind and flood, that they actually get paid on their wind policy for the damages wind causes? In a word, no.

Libby Garcia, one of the few residents to rebuild . . ., wonders why the Corps is singling out the Gulf Coast for buyouts when so many other coastal areas face the same flood risks.

"Why don't they go buy Key West?" she asked.

Good idea. Let Bush attempt his buyout plan in a state with 25 electoral votes in play for the upcoming presidential election. Key West is a great place to start. Like the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Key West was battered in a 2005 hurricane. Her name was Wilma.

Here’s a YouTube video on Wilma's impact on that fabulous city. Only video, no sound.

Here’s another before and after video of Wilma hitting Key West. The first part is humorous. The second, well, it isn’t.
Notice that there were plenty of winds long before the storm surge came ashore. Be sure to read the text that the creator embedded in the video. Six storms through Key West in two years.

Personally, I think the discussion of the buyouts is politically motivated, political revenge because Gulf Coast Congressman Taylor (D-MS)—a man whom the Bush Administration could count on to vote with the White House on its Iraq and social conservative policies—had demonstrated clearly that his moral values included using the government levers of power to help the American people of every political, economic, and religious stripe and size.

You see, once Taylor’s ground breaking multiple peril insurance legislation is signed into law, the Big Insurance Scam days are O-V-E-R. Immediately, REAL competition for REAL insurance enters the market.

At present, Big Insurance pretends to offer folks wind coverage be it for hurricane or tornado winds. But when those winds whip up a shore and cause substantial damages to or destroys homes and businesses, the gig is up and its time to pay AND to shut up. However, after Katrina, Big Insurance companies talked with each other and all of a sudden we had an industry wide response to Katrina’s wind damages: not gonna pay. Any other industry would be in violation of the U.S. anti-trust laws were their companies to be in cahoots, in collusion with each other. That is the other ground breaking legislation that has been introduced in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives with bi-partisan support—eliminating the accidental, though fiscally lethal, loophole that has permitted the insurance industry’s corporations to collude with one another.

George W. Bush has raked in tons o’ cash from the insurance industry that has been unfairly raking in profits at the expense of paying its policyholders on legitimate wind claims.



Vicious political revenge has long been the modus operandi of the Bush Administration. Need proof? Two words: Karl Rove.

I think it is useful to put this buyout propaganda into proper perspective. First, the Democratically-controlled Congress has committed itself time and again to the rebuilding of the Katrina-ravaged area. Last year when she was Majority Leader and then this year as Speaker of the House, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) led a delegation of congressional representatives to the area and held town meetings in Bay St. Louis, Miss., the very town Bush’s Buyout has targeted.

When Bush’s Corps of Engineers first unveiled its proposed buyout plan to the residents of Bay St. Louis, I was in the room and just as ticked off at it as the rest of my townspeople neighbors in the room. If Bush feels that this is such a great idea, he should convince his little brother to sell the buyout plan to Key West. Let’s see how well that goes over. Yeah, right. Like a lead balloon.

"There will be no mandatory buyouts at the federal level," Taylor said in an e-mail. "As you may be aware, the State of Mississippi has previously been given federal funding for Katrina-related recovery efforts. What the state chooses to do with funds already given to it is a decision for state officials. However, I assure you that there will be no federal funds for mandatory buyouts."

I believe Congressman Taylor when I read the news article conveying his statement on this pathetic propaganda veiling that the White House has put out to mess around with Taylor’s home district. Heck, who am I kidding? This is Taylor’s hometown.

So long as the Democrats are in power in Congress, I don’t see this Bush’s BS of a buyout plan going anywhere. But it may not have a thing to do with actually making it happen. It will, however, generate a ton of anxiety, stop development, and pour a ton of unnecessary phone calls into Taylor’s offices. You see, part of the impact of this would be to pull from Taylor and his staff some of the time and energy that they spend on pushing through the Multiple Peril Policy through the U.S. Senate. Part of the impact is to serve as a political warning for others who join the fight for the financial security for America’s families and businesses.

“What political warning?” you ask. How’s this. You mess with our friends—i.e. Bush’s buddies in the insurance industry, and we’ll mess with you . . . at home.

On August 13, 2007, when Speaker Pelosi spoke with the standing room only crowd at Congressman Taylor’s Town Hall Meeting on Insurance Reform that he held at the Our Lady of the Gulf Community Center, she told us that she knew we were a deeply religious people, a deeply patriotic people. Speaker Pelosi is, indeed, accurate in her description of the people in this area—myself included.

Though Bush and his Corps of Engineers are attempting to run over us in a tyrannical-like fashion not experienced by any other community in these United States, we will remain steadfast in our faith that we will prevail, that our congressman will lead the way, and that others will join with us to make life better for us and for the nation. We're not buying Bush's buyout plan. Our county and city officials have come out against it.

"People are just backing off and it's leading to a panic," said [Hancock County Supervisor Jim] Thriffiley. "The buyout situation is worse than a stock market crash for our community."

Bush's cruelty will be remembered. Here in Bay St. Louis specifically, I know us to be a humble group of folks with backbones of steel, hearts of gold, and memories better than any elephant.

“Remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall -- think of it, ALWAYS.”

Mahatma Ghandi

© 2007 Ana Maria Rosato. All rights reserved.
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Gov't May Buy Thousands of Miss. Homes

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) — The federal government is considering buying out as many as 17,000 homes along the Mississippi coast and remaking the land into a vast hurricane-protection zone, raising anxieties that it could destroy the waterfront lives many residents are struggling to rebuild after Katrina.

The Mississippi Coastal Improvement Program could cost $40 billion, including buying the homes, building levees and restoring barrier islands. The land could be converted into wetlands or other public uses, such as golf courses or bike trails, but could not be sold for private development.

For Finley Williford, a 42-year-old boat captain, a buyout offer would have been tempting if it had come shortly after Hurricane Katrina destroyed his Bay St. Louis home on Aug. 29, 2005.

But instead of leaving, he invested countless hours of labor and more than $400,000 in two new houses for his family and his father.

"If they had showed up a day after the storm, I probably would have taken the money. It's kind of after-the-fact now," Williford said.

The buyouts would be voluntary, and the Army Corps plan envisions allowing casinos, hotels and restaurants to continue operating on the coast from Bay St. Louis to Biloxi. But until the proposal becomes more focused, residents are concerned that it could spell the end of their Margaritaville-like communities, where a lifestyle of beaches and boiled shrimp has flourished for decades, and many houses are already built atop stilts.

Williford fears the buyouts could stunt the growth of his nearly deserted neighborhood and harm property values if few other residents return.

"Just the rumor of it is slowing people down," he said, noting a neighbor suspended his rebuilding plan after hearing about the proposal.

Buyouts could be part of a similar plan in Louisiana, but Corps officials could not say how many properties may be involved or where they are.

"Buyouts are a possibility, but it's still just one of several options we're studying for the report," Corps spokeswoman Julie Morgan said.

In Louisiana, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is considering compensating residents who used their own money to elevate their hurricane-damaged homes while $1.1 billion was tied up in a dispute between state and federal agencies.

Otherwise, the tens of thousands of homeowners the state estimates have already begun raising their homes could be left with nothing.

"I do sense there's a commitment on our end to try to recognize those folks, because they did the right thing," FEMA spokesman Butch Kinerney said. "We want to make sure we don't penalize people who did what we recommend every day."

The Corps expects to release a draft of its Mississippi buyout plan in December. In the meantime, project director Susan Rees is fielding questions at meetings with local officials and residents.

Several hundred people attended a forum last month in Bay St. Louis, a city about 45 minutes east of New Orleans, where Katrina destroyed many of the quaint shops and beachfront restaurants that drew tourists and New Orleans-area residents.

Rees said many residents mistakenly worry their land would be seized and turned over to private developers. Involuntary buyouts are "always an option of last resort," but aren't part of this plan, she said.

"I was taken aback by what some of the individuals believed the proposal was," she said. "I wasn't taken aback by the emotional nature of the response."

The Corps has bought flood-prone homes near rivers in the past, but Rees said this would be its first large buyout of coastal homes. The proposal will give Congress a menu of choices, not impose mandates, she added.

"Congress gave us an opportunity to just strip everything away and say, 'What are the options to make this a resilient coast?' It is a rare opportunity, and I hope a lot of good comes from it," she said.

Oliver Houck, a Tulane University law professor who has studied government efforts to control coastal flooding, said voluntary buyouts are a "very reasonable way to approach managing floods."

Moving people away from areas at the greatest risk of flooding makes more sense than spending hundreds of millions of dollars to shield them with levees, he added.

"Any program that attempts to subsidize their continuing to stay in place is simply subsidizing another wipeout," Houck said.

William Walker, director of Mississippi's Department of Marine Resources, is helping Rees craft the plan and introduce it to communities.

"If all we do is rebuild where we were prior to Katrina, we will have failed," he said. "We need to rebuild better, stronger and smarter."

Government subsidies could offset the loss of tax revenue from residential buyouts, but some local officials fear the proposal would have a chilling effect on development plans and turn some parts of the coast into a disjointed checkerboard of homes and wetlands.

U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor, a Democrat whose home in Bay St. Louis was leveled by Katrina, said he doesn't see much support — locally or on Capitol Hill — for funding billions of dollars in home buyouts.

"I can't think of a single person who has come up to me and said, 'I want the government to buy my land,'" he said.

Some of his constituents welcome that option, though.

Arnold Toups, 90, is living in a government-issued trailer outside the gutted shell of the octagon-shaped home he built with his own hands three decades ago. A "For Sale" sign in his front yard has attracted a few offers, but nothing serious. Toups said he would listen to an offer from the Corps.

"If I get my price," he said. "I'm not in a rush to sell."

Libby Garcia, one of the few residents to rebuild in Williford's neighborhood, wonders why the Corps is singling out the Gulf Coast for buyouts when so many other coastal areas face the same flood risks.

"Why don't they go buy Key West?" she asked.

Associated Press writer Becky Bohrer contributed to this report.


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Ire in Gulf over buyout plan

US proposal may mean parts of the Gulf Coast won't get rebuilt.
By Patrik Jonsson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
ATLANTA

In Mississippi, the US Army Corps of Engineers is proposing the nation's first regional buyout of coastal homes – a move, some experts say, that suggests that some stretches of the Gulf Coast devastated by hurricane Katrina will not get rebuilt.

The corps, which floated the plan in workshops with local residents last month, is expected to expand the idea to Louisiana. While it faces resistance from locals worried about the future viability of their communities, the proposal addresses a problem that has frustrated Congress for two decades: how to persuade homeowners not to rebuild in flood-prone areas.

The cost of Katrina's destruction – and of hurricane Rita's, which hit a month later in 2005 – could push policymakers to take a stronger stand against such rebuilding , especially as concerns about global warming and rising sea levels increase.

"The value of Katrina to federal policy was it showed that climate change ... is going to have an impact on the national economy," says Martin Doyle, a land-use expert at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. "The question now is whether these storms crossed some socioeconomic and physical threshold to where the system, be it political, economic, or social, doesn't go back to the way it was."

The corps' plan would use the lowest flood map delineations to mark up to 17,000 homes, 10,000 of them in Hancock County,for "flood mitigation" – or buyout. That represents roughly two-thirds of the county's single-family homes.

While the plan also affects nearby Waveland and Pass Christian, opposition has been fiercest in Bay St. Louis, where 218 new homes are being built. Indeed, as news of the buyout trickled out, planning for several new projects ground to a halt, says Bobby Campretta, a member of Bay St. Louis's city council.

"They say it's voluntary, but then on the other hand if you don't sell out, you might not be able to get flood insurance, with the end result being that it's almost like saying it's mandatory," says Mr. Campretta. "It's really going to hurt the city of Bay St. Louis."

Also perplexing to many residents, the same agency that's proposing the buyout, the Army Corps' Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program (MCIP), is also rebuilding a massive seawall that will protect downtown Bay St. Louis.

Congress would have to approve the plan. The US has bought out or relocated some 28,000 properties since October 1983, the largest buyout involving more than 8,000 homes following the 1993 Mississippi River floods. Yet even those moves proved temporary: Many of those 8,000 properties are now being redeveloped.

Some leaders doubt that the new buyout plan would find favor with Congress.

"Five words: 'It ain't going to happen,' " says Rep. Gene Taylor (D) of Mississippi, who's in the midst of rebuilding his Bay St. Louis home. "There's no money for it, there's no will for it, and there's no public support for it. That's 0 for 3."

Yet Congress broached the subject, says Jim Fraser, a professor of human and organizational development at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. In fact, it authorized the corps to study permanent buyouts along the Gulf Coast in 2005. Moreover, he adds, reforms of the federal flood-insurance program in 2004 set the stage for major action after years of catastrophic losses where every dollar paid into the National Flood Insurance Program paid out $3.65 in losses.

A series of federal task forces in the 1990s called for Americans to be moved out of flood plains or for the responsibility to be placed on those communities to stem the moral hazard of people losing their homes in lowlands that flood repeatedly, getting federal insurance money, and then rebuilding in the same place, Professor Fraser says.

The authors of the Mississippi buyout plan acknowledge that it's being proposed at an awkward time, when many people have already begun to rebuild. But they say it's still likely to find a lot of takers. What's more, planners will ask Congress for open-ended policy that would allow future storm victims to apply for a buyout more quickly following a disaster. While some neighborhoods in and around Bay St. Louis, for example, are springing back, others are still weed-choked, rat-infested and debilitated.

"We have to look at all the options and all the factors," says Susan Rees, the MCIP project manager responsible for the buyout plan in Mississippi. "The fact is, it's been two years, and development hasn't occurred in a lot of these areas. Condo projects on the [Gulf] Coast are not selling anymore. At the same time, the perception among many people is that we are threatening a way of life. It's a very emotional issue. The numbers have scared folks."

Given past relocation efforts, there is cause for concern, especially for lower-income neighborhoods, says Fraser. "If it's truly voluntary, people affected should be able to participate in the planning, and that's been lacking in previous mitigation efforts," he says. "All these factors will become real significant if they're trying to do the largest mitigation buyout in the history of the United States. This is a massive project."

Looming large in the Mississippi debate is what Mr. Doyle calls a "stunning" shift in federal policy on global warming, especially new sea-level estimates that show the oceans rising by up to three feet in the next century.

Whether man-made or not, "climate change is real," says Ms. Rees. "In that light, we have to look at the options and all the facts and not just think it's not going to happen again."

Some changes have already taken place. Homes rebuilt in Pass Christian are now required to be elevated at least 20 feet above sea level, says the mayor, Leo "Chipper" McDermott, who doesn't believe most residents want to sell out.

"I can tell you this," he adds. "You're not going to keep people away from water; water attracts more people than runs away from it."

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Hancock officials oppose buyout

Posted on Tue, Oct. 09, 2007
By J.R. WELSH
jrwelsh@sunherald.com

BILOXI -- Two elected officials from Hancock County have told the state Department of Marine Resources they will ask their boards to oppose any federal buyout plan of private lands in the county, even if the program is voluntary.

County Supervisor Jay Cuevas and Jim Thriffiley, president of the Bay St. Louis City Council, delivered their message to Bill Walker, DMR's executive director, during a lengthy meeting at DMR headquarters late last week. A buyout is one option being pushed by DMR and the Army Corps of Engineers through a plan called the Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program.

The plan calls for the federal government to buy large tracts of privately owned lands that flood repeatedly and use the property as nature preserves and parks. Both DMR and the corps have emphasized that a buyout would be purely voluntary.


That made little difference to Thriffiley, however. "I'm against any buyouts because I believe it's going to lead to the demise of the neighborhoods," he told Walker.

The elected officials were part of a Hancock County group that met with Walker. The group included Sam Moore and Dennis Bordelon, president and vice president of the Garden Island Community Association, and Chris LaGarde, an environmental aide to U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor. The Sun Herald was also there.

Moore arranged the meeting. LaGarde did not voice opposition from Taylor's office to the buyout plan during the discussion, saying if such a program occurred, it would be many years down the road.

On Sept. 17, the DMR and corps announced an ambitious plan to buy thousands of flood-prone acres in the south county. The Shoreline Park and Cedar Point areas would be included.

The announcement was also accompanied by revelations that the corps is studying other possibilities such as beach and dune restoration and constructing an extensive levee system as tall as 30 feet, a seawall around Bay St. Louis, and flood gates at the mouth of the bay. However, one corps presentation has classified the seawall option as unlikely.

Other buyout trial balloons are being floated for parts of Harrison and Jackson counties.

But alarm over the plan has been especially pronounced in Hancock County.

The local officials said that since Walker made the announcement at a public meeting in Bay St. Louis, economic fears have infected the county and thrown shadows over prospects for new development and hurricane recovery.

"People are just backing off and it's leading to a panic," said Thriffiley. "The buyout situation is worse than a stock market crash for our community."

Cuevas told Walker that construction was on the upswing in the county before the buyout announcement. But since then, he said, growth has slowed and, "My phone hasn't stopped ringing" with calls from citizens frightened of the plan. He said he has received no calls from business people or property owners who favored a buyout.

Walker told the group that a buyout plan "might take up to 10 years." But he said that if all governmental entities in Hancock County oppose it, "DMR will not recommend" the program. He said his agency has been acting in an advisory capacity to the corps.

"This is not something the DMR or the corps is trying to force on anybody," Walker said. But, he added, "In order to protect the Coast from future storms, there needs to be a buyout of repetitively damaged property."

Positions stated by Cuevas and Thriffiley differed from a formal resolution passed by the Hancock County Chamber of Commerce, which has asked the corps and DMR to work through local businesses and governments in developing the coastal improvements program. The chamber resolution made no mention of a buyout plan, voluntary or otherwise.

Thriffiley also told Walker he does not oppose other parts of the corps plan aside from the buyout. "We don't want to shut down this plan except for the buyout," he said. "That's the only part we want to negate."

The Bay St. Louis City Council is scheduled to meet tonight. County supervisors do not have another regularly scheduled meeting until next week.

"I don't see our board voting for the buyout," Cuevas said after the meeting. "But until we get it on the minutes, nothing's official."

Web poll

What do you think about the Corps of Engineers' buyout of coastal property? To vote, go to sunherald.com.


© 2007 Sun Herald. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.sunherald.com


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Taylor says no federal funding for coastal buyouts

Posted on Tue, Oct. 09, 2007

Rep. Gene Taylor today issued a statement today that the federal government would not be buying out property, responding to the hubbub surrounding a proposed Army Corps of Engineers program.

"There will be no mandatory buyouts at the federal level," Taylor said in an e-mail. "As you may be aware, the State of Mississippi has previously been given federal funding for Katrina-related recovery efforts. What the state chooses to do with funds already given to it is a decision for state officials. However, I assure you that there will be no federal funds for mandatory buyouts."

The Sun Herald continues covering this story online and in print editions.



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Our position: The federal government should add wind coverage to its flood policies

October 8, 2007

A major reform of the way homeowners get reimbursed after destructive storms is making its way through Congress, and guess what?

The insurance industry opposes it.

Anyone believing in fair play and a measure of justice should support it.

Enough members of the House did last month. They passed Rep. Gene Taylor's "Multiple Peril Insurance Act," which allows folks who get flood insurance through the federal government to also purchase wind policies from Washington.

What's so special about that? Ask Gulf state residents who'd held federal flood-insurance policies and private wind policies when Hurricane Katrina came ashore. The feds cut billions of dollars in checks. Insurance companies cut excuses.

Time and again they said flooding, not wind, damaged the homes -- and despite evidence to the contrary.

Mr. Taylor's roof, for example, blew 450 feet from his Mississippi home. But his insurance adjuster claimed no wind damage, blaming Mr. Taylor's losses on flooding. Interesting. Katrina's winds preceded the storm surge by five hours.

The result of the insurers' chicanery? Policyholders ended up paying billions of dollars over the years in premiums to insurers who, instead of paying claims, passed the buck to the feds.

Now the insurance industry -- and this might be laughable if it weren't so lamentable -- is warning the public that adding wind insurance to the federal flood program will cause huge deficits. And that by offering the insurance more readily, it could land more people and property "in the path of devastating storms." Such caring. Such heart. From the very industry that has caused government to pay out so much after catastrophic storms because it won't honor the policies it writes.

The serve-insurers-first-last-and-always system won't blow over, though, unless the Senate joins the House in its reform. It needs to draft and pass a companion bill.

Sens. Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez, break out your pens! Florida's got more than 40 percent of the nation's flood-insurance policyholders -- more constituents with more at stake on this than any other state.

Each senator, in fact, supports letting homeowners buy federal flood and wind policies. But that won't happen unless they kick up a storm and get their peers to stand down the powerful insurance lobby.

Mr. Martinez, in the minority, sits on the committee reviewing the policy. Mr. Nelson, whose party runs Congress, doesn't sit on the committee but last week urged its chair to give it legs.

Few in the Senate expect that to happen. But few in the House a short time ago thought Mr. Taylor's bill would pass. Floridians and victims everywhere of property insurers' abuses need the senators' best efforts.


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Inconvenience and Truth

by Ana Maria

Lately, I haven’t felt much like writing. My Creative Muses who usually inspire my writing have been silent. The utter inconvenience of living in the Katrina-ravaged area gets to and exhausts me—and I’m among the lucky ones. Though my mother’s house was substantially destroyed, the frame of the house remained. With tremendous thanks to my brothers, the inside was rebuilt, and we’re at least 90% back to pre-Katrina.

My mother never lived in a FEMA trailer. Truth be told, my mother’s name was put on the FEMA list and months later when we still hadn’t heard from Bush’s agency and one of my family members checked on it, FEMA couldn’t find her name. I imagine this was not a one-time FEMA flub. Thankfully, she lived with my brother in Georgia until the house got good enough for her to move in regardless of the inconveniences of living here.

To many of us online, the idea of our Internet provider being down about 90% of the time is a ridiculous notion, yet over the last month, that is what I experienced. Yesterday, I had BellSouth come in and switch me to its service. And service is what I got. REAL service—and I’m not just talking about access to the Internet.

I called BellSouth last week, maybe Wednesday or Thursday. They called me twice to confirm Monday morning’s appointment. Then, the guy showed up, on time, and with a smile on his face, nice as he could be. In no time flat, I had my Internet service switched, AND he ensured that I could get on before he left the house. What a breath of fresh air!

This isn’t just about being connected . . . to the Internet. Rather, it is about being connected to a lifestyle many of us expect because, well, we live in the United States of America. You know, things like calling up a company for a service, making an appointment to come to the house within a few days, and voila! The deed is done without blinking an eye or thinking two seconds about it.

For some reading this entry, this may seem like a big, “Uh, yeah. So what?” And that is my point.
It should be a big so what, but even two years after the worst natural disaster hit the area, it isn’t. And the ordeal is wearing thin on my nerves. I can only fathom how it is impacting others who’ve been here from the beginning. I just want the money to flow to the area. I just want Big Insurance to pay Big Time through signing into law the Multiple Peril Legislation that Congressman Gene Taylor championed a few weeks ago in the House of Representatives and in making Big Insurance subject to the same anti-trust legislation to which other industries are subjected. Both will take time to enact into law, and I look forward to those laws becoming reality.

I’ve been here six months. The newness has worn off, and the conditions of daily living are wearing thin. And I’ve only been here six months. My recent memories of going out to eat at any number of fabulous restaurants in San Jose or San Francisco, Calif., from which I had moved, remind me of life that should already have returned here.

Last night, I attended Congressman Gene Taylor’s Town Hall meeting in Long Beach, Miss. He talked a great amount of the time on the insurance reform bill he championed in the House of Representatives and the hope of it going through the Senate. Question after question pored from the audience, the overwhelming topic being residential and commercial insurance.

One woman told of how 25% ($20,000) of her family’s income is spent on family insurance coverage and the increase in homeowners and wind coverage. My goodness! 25% on insurance?! Here in South Mississippi. Well, yeah. Paying out that much of one’s income is no simple matter. On top of that, life’s simplicities—be it dependable Internet service or going to the movies or choosing from a wide variety of restaurants to eat out occasionally—are neither convenient nor so simple.

Simple like going to the movies. A new George Clooney movie is out. Like many a women, I’m a big fan. Great actor, terrific roles, and he’s very easy on the eyes plus that voice of his, not to mention that I like his politics, I grew up with his aunt’s singing, his father ran as the Democratic nominee for a congressional seat a few years ago . . . the list goes on. I want to see the movie.

But, geeze, where in the heck would I go to see it when it begins playing in “theaters everywhere”? Everywhere? Not around here. I don’t know of a theater within 30 miles. Is George Clooney worth driving several hours round trip? Hmmmmm. Not a trick question, but one that I’ll have to ponder a moment or two.

Of course, that isn’t the point specifically. The point is the utter intolerability of simple things being not so simple, of convenience we expect all over the country not being all that convenient, of the truth of these simple inconveniences wearing on everyone’s nerves—those living with it and perhaps those reading and hearing about it.

I was ever so happy to go see Inconvenient Truth the first night it played in San Jose, Calif. Now I live in an area of the country where inconvenience is the truth of our lives.


© 2007 Ana Maria Rosato. All rights reserved.
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The Best of A.M. in the Morning! Oct. 1 - 6, 2007

by Ana Maria

Blog Entries
The Madness of Little Things Inside Katrina Land October 1, 2007
The Insurance Apologists: Loving America, not Americans October 3, 2007
Bush’s Veto Threat Threatens More Than Multiple Peril Legislation October 2, 2007
Revving Up Insurance Reform Momentum! October 1, 2007

News Items
Insurance candidate criticizes opponent October 5, 2007
Sound Off from the Biloxi, Miss., Sun Herald Sun Herald October 5, 2007

ANDERSON PUSHES FOR LOWER INSURANCE RATES October 4, 2007
If a New Yorker gets it, why can't an Alabamian? Sun Herald, October 4, 2007

Schumer Backs Wind-Damage Coverage in Flood Insurance Overhaul Congressional Quarterly October 3, 2007
Cochran, Lott voice support for flood bill Sun Herald October 3, 2007

Presidential Veto Would Break Faith with South Mississippi Sun Herald October 2, 2007

NYT Editorial: More Housing Woes in Mississippi New York Times October 1, 2007
Bush vows veto The Mississippi Press October 1, 2007
Opinion/Editorial: Surviving the Shards of Wars and Hurricanes October 1, 2007


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Sound Off from the Biloxi, Miss., Sun Herald

. . . the daily newspaper covering the Mississippi Gulf Coast's three counties

Here's an idea

• Why can't the multiple-peril insurance program be funded by a 2 or 3 percent federal gas tax applied to every gallon of gas sold within 50 miles of all U.S. coastlines? This tax would be paid for by the natives who would benefit from the insurance as well as the visitors and tourists who enjoy amenities the coasts provide.

Sound Off is a daily column featuring anonymous comments on virtually any topic. Limit e-mail to 70 words.

The Sun Herald published this comment on October 5, 2007.

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Insurance candidate criticizes opponent

Friday, October 05, 2007

By CHERIE WARD

BILOXI -- Gary Anderson, the Democrat candidate for state insurance commissioner, said Thursday he's not going to be in the back pocket of big insurance companies and accused his opponent of taking money from the insurance industry for nearly 10 years.

Anderson defeated Insurance Commissioner George Dale in the Democrat primary. The August race ended Dale's 32-year tenure as the state's top insurance regulator and the longest serving state insurance commissioner in the nation.

The 51-year-old former state fiscal chief now faces Republican state Sen. Mike Chaney of Vicksburg in the Nov. 6 general election. Chaney won the GOP nomination for the four-year post by defeating Ronnie English of Vancleave.

Anderson, of Jackson, held a press conference at Mary Mahoney's restaurant in Biloxi Thursday, surrounded by about 10 supporters.

He didn't delay his criticism of Chaney.

"My independence from insurance industry is one of the main differences be-tween my opponent and me," Anderson said. "Right now, Mississippi pays the third highest insurance rates in the nation. It takes the right kind of experience and the independence to do the job."

Anderson repeatedly chastised Chaney for ac-cepting contributions from insurance companies and others associated with the industry. He also accused Chaney of being in "the back pocket" of the industry both candidates are vying to govern.

"Since 1999, Mr. Chaney has taken thousands of dollars from insurance interest. In 2007, while running for insurance commissioner, he said, it's wrong to take money from industries you regulate.' Despite this statement, Mr. Chaney has continued to take money from insurance agents and companies," Anderson said.

Anderson said Chaney "flip-flopped" on his promise to the American Association of Retired Persons.

"He told the AARP he would support the grocery-tax/cigarette-tax swap and then did not," Anderson said. "If he'll do that to the elderly, what will he do to the people of the entire state?"

In an interview with The Mississippi Press published Sept. 29, Chaney offered no criticism of Anderson.

During the press conference, Anderson said he would lower the insurance rates in the state.

"For too long the insurance companies have had a free rein to do as they please in our state," Anderson said. "We need to change that. My plan is simple. Work everyday as an advocate for the insurance rate payers for our state and remain independent of insurance special interest. I haven't taken a single dime from insurance companies because it's just plan wrong to take money from the insurance companies that you're responsible to regulate."

Anderson said he wants to reduce fraud and waste in the insurance system. He said he wants to remove confusing language from insurance policies so the holders can better understand them.

Asked how he would regulate nationwide insurance providers refusing to write homeowner policies in Mississippi, Anderson said, "let them go."

"I plan to make Mississippi more attractive to the insurance industry," Anderson said. "That way, if State Farm or someone wants to go, they can. There will be five other companies wanting to take their place."

He said he will use his 25 years of experience in the public and private sectors to encourage competition in the insurance marketplace.

Anderson offered no opinion on the multi-peril legislation the U.S. House of Representatives approved on Sept. 27 that would allow property owners to purchase wind and flood coverage in a single policy.

The legislation is sponsored by Congressman Gene Taylor, D-Miss., and will now be presented to the U.S. Senate. If approved, the issue will be considered by President George W. Bush, who has vowed to veto the bill.

Reporter Cherie Ward can be reached at cward @themississippipress.com or (228) 934-1442.

The Mississippi Press published the original article on October 5, 2007.


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