Remembering The Blunders Of Democrat's, Katrina One Year Later
Well it's been a year since Katrina and all is still not well. I have seen the Democrats pull some boners in my time but this has got to be the worst!
Money has been allocated, money has been spent, ripped off from us the taxpayers, ripped off from the Federal Government. Double wide trailors still set empty with no plan to put them anywhere because the Liberals in Louisiana cant come up with a plan for those that need them. Scam's have taken place everywhere in New Orleans starting with the Debit Card disaster.
And congressional investigators have unearthed some eye-popping instances of fraud, especially in the chaotic weeks following the Aug. 29 storm. But a year after Hurricane Katrina, the biggest money concern in the disaster zone isn't misspending or overspending, but whether recovery money is being spent wisely.
According to figures, about $45 billion of the $110.6 billion- has been doled out by the federal government. And the bulk of that money has gone for the initial rescue efforts, debris removal and the emergency repairs to New Orleans' ruptured levees.
Officials in Louisiana have to submit other plans for more money.
As successes, one could point to the Army Corps of Engineers' repair of 220 miles of levees around New Orleans in time for this year's hurricane season, cleanup of 100 million cubic yards of hurricane debris and nearly $17 billion sent to Louisiana and Mississippi for housing assistance.
Already, highly publicized instances of fraud have tainted the rebuilding effort. In June, the Government Accountability Office reported as much as $1.4 billion wasted on individual assistance payments to hurricane evacuees or people claiming to be.
The GAO discovered that FEMA-issued debit cards were used to buy Dom Perignon champagne, admission to strip clubs and season tickets to the New Orleans Saints. In some cases, the GAO found, people who didn't evacuate were able to collect the $2,000 in financial aid, and some real evacuees collected more than once.
The government's post-disaster contracting practices also have been a source of concern. While $3.6 billion has been spent cleaning up hurricane debris, some lawmakers have questioned whether the bill would have even been that high.
.............................And who could forget this:
In the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina, Mayor Ray Nagin did not use hundreds of buses that were sitting in bus yards, some less than a mile from the Superdome, to evacuate citizens who were too poor to make their way out of the city. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco commented, "The buses could have saved an estimated 20,000 people if they had been used for emergency evacuations which President Bush had declared two days before Katrina hit." Thursday, AFTER the storm, Blanco by executive order then issued "School buses to be used for evacuation."
There were however alternative emergency plans, including ones held by state Homeland Security offices, and it is still unclear which one was being operated.
The Superdome had been opened shortly before the storm as a shelter of last resort for those who had not evacuated. "Most residents have evacuated the city and those left behind do not have transportation or have special needs." A City Official said. Roughly 150,000 people were not evacuated from the city. During the Hurricane Ivan evacuation 600,000 people failed to evacute the city.
According to WWLTV, during a news conference on Sunday before the hurricane struck, Mayor Nagin claimed he "could and would commandeer any property or vehicle it deemed necessary to provide safe shelter or transport for those in need". However widespread photos circulated appear to show unused school and privately owned busses left stranded in flood waters.
...................................Mayor Nagin
In a radio interview on WWL-AM shortly after the hurricane, Mayor Nagin said, "I need 500 buses, man."
Let's Milk The Cow a Little; Here are two key questions in evaluating the plight of 100,000 citizens of New Orleans:
1. What was the earliest time that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin might reasonably have called for evacuation?
2. Would that time have been early enough to reduce signficantly the human suffering from the level that did occur?
Hurricane Katrina came ashore early in the morning Aug. 29. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had ordered a “mandatory evacuation” only about 24 hours before. Nagin has been faulted by many observers for waiting until Sunday, especially since President Bush had called La. Gov. Kathleen Blanco the night before wondering what was taking so long; Nagin admitted he had received a call from Blanco while eating his dinner Saturday night asking the same question.
One could argue that with a steadily westward-proceeding track, someone in the New Orleans or La. governments might have started thinking about evacuation.
In fact, though, the mayor’s “official” evacuation order for residents to leave was given at 9 a.m. Sunday the 28th, many hours less than 30 before Katrina made land.
While Nagin’s “official” evacuation order occurred only 23 hours before Katrina’s eye brushed the city, people had been streaming out of the city for most of a full day before, well before Nagin’s Saturday warning.
As far back as 1998 [Hurricane Georges], there were problems, and in 2004 [Hurricane Ivan], Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin promised to fix them, then did absolutely nothing about them. It’s no wonder the state and local reaction to Hurricane Katrina was so screwed up. From ordering mandatory evacuations then not using the 200+ available school buses to effectuate the evacuations to knowingly putting people in the Superdome where criminal problems had occured the last time, without also putting in the proper security measures to quell the problems quickly.
...................................Governor Blanco
Things to remember about Katrina:
(1) Bush pleaded and begged Nagin and Blanco for days to evacuate New Orleans, which they did too late to meet the requirements established in the New Orleans disaster plan.
(2) Nagin and Blanco tossed out their hurricane/flood disaster plan that they submitted and coordinated with FEAM, throwing the entire response effort into a shoot-from-the-hip scamper. This should be a criminal act on the part of state authorities because the Feds pre-position supplies and resources in accordance with the established plans.
(3) Nagin and Blanco did not want to use their local resources to assist their people (like school buses) instead they tried to get things done on the cheap by asking the Feds - who were dealing with hundreds of miles of coastline and tens of thousands of people - to get them air conditioned busses throught the storm ravaged areas.
(4) When the levies broke the day after the storm came through Nagin and Blanco did not react during the 24 hours the city SLOWLY flooded. That left thousands of people stranded in the center of New Orleans and it left Red Cross supplies a few miles away without authorization to come into the city.
(5) The levies that failed were on canals inside the city and these levies were the responsibility of New Orleans and Louisianna - not the Feds. The levies failed because, like the entire region, New Orleans is sinking. The city and state have known about this sinking problem for decades. Therefore they city and state should have been surveying the levies to make sure they were still at the same height relative to sea level required to deal with a hurrican surge. They were not, and that is not Bush’s fault, that is the fault of local governments who get millions of dollars in flood control support every year and couldn’t afford a simple surveying effort.
Louisiana Mayor Ray Nagin Takes A Swipe At NYC 9-11 Rebuilding Efforts
Louisiana Emergancy Evacuation Plan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let us not forget our dear friend William ($90,000 In The Freezer) Jefferson D-LA, are we positive that was Bribe Money? Or was he pocketing donations meant for Hurricane victims? The people from New Orleans are still scattered all over the Country, Oklahoma has 7300 of them as well as we are the Temporary home to the "Hornet's" Basketball team!! And the Hornet's have sold out every single game since they have been here, something I cant say happened in LA. God help us I hope Louisiana has a plan this time because Ernie might be on the way!! Look what happens when Democrat's run just one state, imagine the whole COUNTRY!!!
Money has been allocated, money has been spent, ripped off from us the taxpayers, ripped off from the Federal Government. Double wide trailors still set empty with no plan to put them anywhere because the Liberals in Louisiana cant come up with a plan for those that need them. Scam's have taken place everywhere in New Orleans starting with the Debit Card disaster.
And congressional investigators have unearthed some eye-popping instances of fraud, especially in the chaotic weeks following the Aug. 29 storm. But a year after Hurricane Katrina, the biggest money concern in the disaster zone isn't misspending or overspending, but whether recovery money is being spent wisely.
According to figures, about $45 billion of the $110.6 billion- has been doled out by the federal government. And the bulk of that money has gone for the initial rescue efforts, debris removal and the emergency repairs to New Orleans' ruptured levees.
Officials in Louisiana have to submit other plans for more money.
As successes, one could point to the Army Corps of Engineers' repair of 220 miles of levees around New Orleans in time for this year's hurricane season, cleanup of 100 million cubic yards of hurricane debris and nearly $17 billion sent to Louisiana and Mississippi for housing assistance.
Already, highly publicized instances of fraud have tainted the rebuilding effort. In June, the Government Accountability Office reported as much as $1.4 billion wasted on individual assistance payments to hurricane evacuees or people claiming to be.
The GAO discovered that FEMA-issued debit cards were used to buy Dom Perignon champagne, admission to strip clubs and season tickets to the New Orleans Saints. In some cases, the GAO found, people who didn't evacuate were able to collect the $2,000 in financial aid, and some real evacuees collected more than once.
The government's post-disaster contracting practices also have been a source of concern. While $3.6 billion has been spent cleaning up hurricane debris, some lawmakers have questioned whether the bill would have even been that high.
.............................And who could forget this:
In the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina, Mayor Ray Nagin did not use hundreds of buses that were sitting in bus yards, some less than a mile from the Superdome, to evacuate citizens who were too poor to make their way out of the city. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco commented, "The buses could have saved an estimated 20,000 people if they had been used for emergency evacuations which President Bush had declared two days before Katrina hit." Thursday, AFTER the storm, Blanco by executive order then issued "School buses to be used for evacuation."
There were however alternative emergency plans, including ones held by state Homeland Security offices, and it is still unclear which one was being operated.
The Superdome had been opened shortly before the storm as a shelter of last resort for those who had not evacuated. "Most residents have evacuated the city and those left behind do not have transportation or have special needs." A City Official said. Roughly 150,000 people were not evacuated from the city. During the Hurricane Ivan evacuation 600,000 people failed to evacute the city.
According to WWLTV, during a news conference on Sunday before the hurricane struck, Mayor Nagin claimed he "could and would commandeer any property or vehicle it deemed necessary to provide safe shelter or transport for those in need". However widespread photos circulated appear to show unused school and privately owned busses left stranded in flood waters.
...................................Mayor Nagin
In a radio interview on WWL-AM shortly after the hurricane, Mayor Nagin said, "I need 500 buses, man."
Let's Milk The Cow a Little; Here are two key questions in evaluating the plight of 100,000 citizens of New Orleans:
1. What was the earliest time that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin might reasonably have called for evacuation?
2. Would that time have been early enough to reduce signficantly the human suffering from the level that did occur?
Hurricane Katrina came ashore early in the morning Aug. 29. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had ordered a “mandatory evacuation” only about 24 hours before. Nagin has been faulted by many observers for waiting until Sunday, especially since President Bush had called La. Gov. Kathleen Blanco the night before wondering what was taking so long; Nagin admitted he had received a call from Blanco while eating his dinner Saturday night asking the same question.
One could argue that with a steadily westward-proceeding track, someone in the New Orleans or La. governments might have started thinking about evacuation.
In fact, though, the mayor’s “official” evacuation order for residents to leave was given at 9 a.m. Sunday the 28th, many hours less than 30 before Katrina made land.
While Nagin’s “official” evacuation order occurred only 23 hours before Katrina’s eye brushed the city, people had been streaming out of the city for most of a full day before, well before Nagin’s Saturday warning.
As far back as 1998 [Hurricane Georges], there were problems, and in 2004 [Hurricane Ivan], Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin promised to fix them, then did absolutely nothing about them. It’s no wonder the state and local reaction to Hurricane Katrina was so screwed up. From ordering mandatory evacuations then not using the 200+ available school buses to effectuate the evacuations to knowingly putting people in the Superdome where criminal problems had occured the last time, without also putting in the proper security measures to quell the problems quickly.
...................................Governor Blanco
Things to remember about Katrina:
(1) Bush pleaded and begged Nagin and Blanco for days to evacuate New Orleans, which they did too late to meet the requirements established in the New Orleans disaster plan.
(2) Nagin and Blanco tossed out their hurricane/flood disaster plan that they submitted and coordinated with FEAM, throwing the entire response effort into a shoot-from-the-hip scamper. This should be a criminal act on the part of state authorities because the Feds pre-position supplies and resources in accordance with the established plans.
(3) Nagin and Blanco did not want to use their local resources to assist their people (like school buses) instead they tried to get things done on the cheap by asking the Feds - who were dealing with hundreds of miles of coastline and tens of thousands of people - to get them air conditioned busses throught the storm ravaged areas.
(4) When the levies broke the day after the storm came through Nagin and Blanco did not react during the 24 hours the city SLOWLY flooded. That left thousands of people stranded in the center of New Orleans and it left Red Cross supplies a few miles away without authorization to come into the city.
(5) The levies that failed were on canals inside the city and these levies were the responsibility of New Orleans and Louisianna - not the Feds. The levies failed because, like the entire region, New Orleans is sinking. The city and state have known about this sinking problem for decades. Therefore they city and state should have been surveying the levies to make sure they were still at the same height relative to sea level required to deal with a hurrican surge. They were not, and that is not Bush’s fault, that is the fault of local governments who get millions of dollars in flood control support every year and couldn’t afford a simple surveying effort.
Louisiana Mayor Ray Nagin Takes A Swipe At NYC 9-11 Rebuilding Efforts
Louisiana Emergancy Evacuation Plan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let us not forget our dear friend William ($90,000 In The Freezer) Jefferson D-LA, are we positive that was Bribe Money? Or was he pocketing donations meant for Hurricane victims? The people from New Orleans are still scattered all over the Country, Oklahoma has 7300 of them as well as we are the Temporary home to the "Hornet's" Basketball team!! And the Hornet's have sold out every single game since they have been here, something I cant say happened in LA. God help us I hope Louisiana has a plan this time because Ernie might be on the way!! Look what happens when Democrat's run just one state, imagine the whole COUNTRY!!!
posted by Marie's Two Cents | 6:00 AM
31 Comments:
Last September President Bush stood in New Orleans, where the lights had just come on for the first time since Katrina struck, and promised “one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen.” Then he left, and the lights went out again.
What happened next was a replay of what happened after Mr. Bush asked Congress to allocate $18 billion for Iraqi reconstruction. In the months that followed, congressmen who visited Iraq returned with glowing accounts of all the wonderful things we were doing there, like repainting schools and, um, repainting schools.
But when the Coalition Provisional Authority, which was running Iraq, closed up shop nine months later, it turned out that only 2 percent of the $18 billion had been spent, and only a handful of the projects that were supposed to have been financed with that money had even been started. In the end, America failed to deliver even the most basic repair of Iraq’s infrastructure; today, Baghdad gets less than seven hours of electricity a day.
And so it is along our own Gulf Coast. The Bush administration likes to talk about all the money it has allocated to the region, and it plans a public relations blitz to persuade America that it’s doing a heck of a job aiding Katrina’s victims. But as the Iraqis learned, allocating money and actually using it for reconstruction are two different things, and so far the administration has done almost nothing to make good on last year’s promises.
It’s true that tens of billions have been spent on emergency relief and cleanup. But even the cleanup remains incomplete: almost a third of the hurricane debris in New Orleans has yet to be removed. And the process of going beyond cleanup to actual reconstruction has barely begun.
For example, although Congress allocated $17 billion to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for Katrina relief, primarily to provide cash assistance to homeowners, as of last week the department had spent only $100 million. The first Louisiana homeowners finally received checks under a federally financed program just three days ago. Mississippi, which has a similar program, has sent out only about two dozen checks so far.
Local governments, which were promised aid in rebuilding facilities such as fire stations and sewer systems, have fared little better in actually getting that aid. A recent article in The National Journal describes a Kafkaesque situation in which devastated towns and parishes seeking federal funds have been told to jump through complex hoops, spending time and money they don’t have on things like proving that felled trees were actually knocked down by Katrina, only to face demands for even more paperwork.
Apologists for the administration will doubtless claim that blame for the lack of progress rests not with Mr. Bush, but with the inherent inefficiency of government bureaucracies. That’s the great thing about being an antigovernment conservative: even when you fail at the task of governing, you can claim vindication for your ideology.
But bureaucracies don’t have to be this inefficient. The failure to get moving on reconstruction reflects lack of leadership at the top.
Mr. Bush could have moved quickly to turn his promises of reconstruction into reality. But he didn’t. As months dragged by with little sign of White House action, all urgency about developing a plan for reconstruction ebbed away.
Mr. Bush could have appointed someone visible and energetic to oversee the Gulf Coast’s recovery, someone who could act as an advocate for families and local governments in need of help. But he didn’t. How many people can even name the supposed reconstruction “czar”?
Mr. Bush could have tried to fix FEMA, the agency whose effectiveness he destroyed through cronyism and privatization. But he didn’t. FEMA remains a demoralized organization, unable to replenish its ranks: it currently has fewer than 84 percent of its authorized personnel.
Maybe the aid promised to the gulf region will actually arrive some day. But by then it will probably be too late. Many former residents and small-business owners, tired of waiting for help that never comes, will have permanently relocated elsewhere; those businesses that stayed open, or reopened after the storm, will have gone under for lack of customers. In America as in Iraq, reconstruction delayed is reconstruction denied — and Mr. Bush has, once again, broken a promise.
Hey Bushie, you're doin' a heckava job!
MarketWatch reports that:
U.S. consumer confidence falls sharply in August
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. consumer confidence weakened sharply in August, the Conference Board said Tuesday. The consumer confidence index fell to 99.6 in August from a revised 107.0 in July. This is the lowest level of confidence since last November, when hurricanes battered the southern United States. The fall was sharper than expected. Economists expected the index to drop to 102.7 from the initial estimate of 106.5 in July. Expectations for inflation in the next year rose to 5.5% from 5.1% in July. This is the highest level since last October.
What have you done to improve the situation pk? Is complaining the best you can do? How about stop complaining and start pitching in with your own time and your own money if you are so concerned about Katrina victims!
I can blame you for all the ills of the world all day long and would be right to given that most of the problems my generation face today were created by do-gooders like yourself that believe you know what is good for every one better they do for themselves.
It will take more than just Federal government money to rebuild Louisiana and no matter how you try and spin it the government can only be as good as the people that staff it.
Get back into your limo and write your columns for the New York Times for all your elite friends to read and pat you on the back for being such a sophisticated whiner.
I believe you are being targeted Marie by a computer generated list from the hatemongers of the left.
Typical of people like jg, he/she doesn't refute what was written in the p.k. post.
No.
All he/she could do is blame the messenger and whine that his/her generation has suffered because of liberals. And yet when you look at the facts, something jg and his/her ilk are averse to, we find that this administration has encouraged the expansion of the government, the most spending, the biggest deficits and the biggest debts this country has ever experienced.
This administration is truly a big-government friendly one and makes all other administrations, including all Democratic administrations of the past, look like pikers.
But jg and his/her kind don't let facts get in the way of their rhetoric.
Don't let the facts spoil your fantasies. Just blame the liberals while the conservatives laugh at your ignorance.
from the CATO Institute:
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3750
Executive Summary
President Bush has presided over the largest overall increase in inflation-adjusted federal spending since Lyndon B. Johnson. Even after excluding spending on defense and homeland security, Bush is still the biggest-spending president in 30 years. His 2006 budget doesn’t cut enough spending to change his place in history, either.
Total government spending grew by 33 percent during Bush’s first term. The federal budget as a share of the economy grew from 18.5 percent of GDP on Clinton’s last day in office to 20.3 percent by the end of Bush’s first term.
The Republican Congress has enthusiastically assisted the budget bloat. Inflation-adjusted spending on the combined budgets of the 101 largest programs they vowed to eliminate in 1995 has grown by 27 percent.
The GOP was once effective at controlling nondefense spending. The final nondefense budgets under Clinton were a combined $57 billion smaller than what he proposed from 1996 to 2001. Under Bush, Congress passed budgets that spent a total of $91 billion more than the president requested for domestic programs. Bush signed every one of those bills during his first term. Even if Congress passes Bush’s new budget exactly as proposed, not a single cabinet-level agency will be smaller than when Bush assumed office.
Republicans could reform the budget rules that stack the deck in favor of more spending. Unfortunately, senior House Republicans are fighting the changes. The GOP establishment in Washington today has become a defender of big government.
Typical of people like jg, he/she doesn't refute what was written in the p.k. post.
No.
All he/she could do is blame the messenger and whine that his/her generation has suffered because of liberals. And yet when you look at the facts, something jg and his/her ilk are averse to, we find that this administration has encouraged the expansion of the government, the most spending, the biggest deficits and the biggest debts this country has ever experienced.
This administration is truly a big-government friendly one and makes all other administrations, including all Democratic administrations of the past, look like pikers.
But jg and his/her kind don't let facts get in the way of their rhetoric.
Don't let the facts spoil your fantasies. Just blame the liberals while the conservatives laugh at your ignorance.
from the CATO Institute:
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3750
Executive Summary
President Bush has presided over the largest overall increase in inflation-adjusted federal spending since Lyndon B. Johnson. Even after excluding spending on defense and homeland security, Bush is still the biggest-spending president in 30 years. His 2006 budget doesn’t cut enough spending to change his place in history, either.
Total government spending grew by 33 percent during Bush’s first term. The federal budget as a share of the economy grew from 18.5 percent of GDP on Clinton’s last day in office to 20.3 percent by the end of Bush’s first term.
The Republican Congress has enthusiastically assisted the budget bloat. Inflation-adjusted spending on the combined budgets of the 101 largest programs they vowed to eliminate in 1995 has grown by 27 percent.
The GOP was once effective at controlling nondefense spending. The final nondefense budgets under Clinton were a combined $57 billion smaller than what he proposed from 1996 to 2001. Under Bush, Congress passed budgets that spent a total of $91 billion more than the president requested for domestic programs. Bush signed every one of those bills during his first term. Even if Congress passes Bush’s new budget exactly as proposed, not a single cabinet-level agency will be smaller than when Bush assumed office.
Republicans could reform the budget rules that stack the deck in favor of more spending. Unfortunately, senior House Republicans are fighting the changes. The GOP establishment in Washington today has become a defender of big government.
Was 14 million dollars the amount of last year's budget allocation for this program? There is nothing in the article that verifies what the budget was last year. Gosh, it gets tiring pointing out this game. When is a budget cut a budget cut? Is it when the admin asks for 14 million and gets only 7 million yet lasts years budget for the program was 4 million? Meaning there was a 3 million dollar increase in the budget. Is this what is meant by a budget cut? Maybe the budget was 14 million dollars last year there is no way of telling that from reading the above article. How much is actually needed? The Pentagon actually asks for 7 million according to the writer of this article. Do Congress people interfere when they see that the Pentagon asks for 7 million in an election year and a democrat screams "that is not enough"!
Let's stop the political grandstanding and chest thumping and let's see exactly what is needed to help our soldiers with injuries instead of unnecessarily frightening the families of the troops with this kind of demagoguery. The writer of this article obviously has a political agenda and when he has done the damage he set out to inflict he will move on to the next subject to attempt bash the Bush administration for immediate short term political gain. This is dirty politics and is intended to add insult to already seriously injured troops.
Typical of people like jg, he/she doesn't refute what was written in the p.k. post.
Yes, that is typical because the facts as you posts them always come into question. I've played this game too long to try and refurte facts as posted.
The messenger is the problem! Just as the Mainstream press went after Karl Rove for outing Valerie Plame and all along the knew exactly who it was that leaked her name but made no effort other than to bash and demogogue the administration. You are the problem and your facts as you post them are most likely skewed as are most of the things that you post because of your hate filled political agenda. You will tell any lie, use any statistic to further hate filled goals.
If I want to know what the Bush adminstration is up to I can and do find out for myself with out the help of hatemongers bent on destroying this country.
PK,
Last September President Bush stood in New Orleans, where the lights had just come on for the first time since Katrina struck, and promised “one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen.” Then he left, and the lights went out again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What you forgot to mention is President Bush has made 13 trips to the Hurricane riddled area and has checked to see what exactly is going on. Dont forget the entire land mass that was devistated by Hurricane Katrina was 90,000 square miles!! The size of Great Britain! You tell me who could clean that up in 1 year?
You at least have to have a competant Louisiana government to start with. And after the Debit Card Fiasco, the lawmakers in Louisiana have to submit plans and paperwork to get more of the 110.6 billion dollars that has been allocated for the reconstruction.
Also where is the rest of the money? Alot of it is missing!
After the SanFransico earthquake the government did what they could but in every single Natural Disaster we have ever had almost ALL of the reconstruction came from the Private Sector!
The President can sign bills and monitor the situation, but you know full well it takes THE STATE and the private sector of the affected area to fix the problem.
What happened next was a replay of what happened after Mr. Bush asked Congress to allocate $18 billion for Iraqi reconstruction. In the months that followed, congressmen who visited Iraq returned with glowing accounts of all the wonderful things we were doing there, like repainting schools and, um, repainting schools.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sorry but your arguement doesnt hold water:
Iraq electricity surpasses pre-war levels
July 28, 2005
Iraq's electricity supply has risen above pre-war levels to 5,350 megawatts (MW) despite sabotage, boosted by hydroelectric power and more imports from Iran, Syria and Turkey, the minister in charge said on Thursday.
"Now electricity has reached a record after we broke 5,350 megawatts a few days ago for the first time since the war," Electricity Minister Mohsen Shalash told Reuters.
Iraq's emergency moves had eased electricity shortage during summer when temperatures can rise above 50 degrees centigrade (122 Fahrenheit), Shalash said in an interview in Amman during a stopover on his way to Iraq.
The rise in power supply of over 1,000 megawatts has come from an extra 500 megawatts generated by hydroelectric power after Turkey increased water flows from the Euphrates River to Iraqi dams while imports from Iran, Turkey and Syria added at least 350 megawatts in July.
A decade before the U.S. led invasion in 2003 capacity had fluctuated between 3,000 to 4,400 megawatts at its peak.
Iraq's power grid, battered by attacks by insurgents and long neglect is still producing only half the electricity needed despite international efforts to rebuild it.
The forecast rise to 6,000 megawatts in August would come mainly from a doubling of imports from Iran to 200 megawatts and a similar jump in Turkey's exports to around 300 megawatts.
New deals signed earlier this month in Tehran will make Iran the country's leading supplier by next summer, Shalash said.
Top level talks were also going on with Kuwait to supply Iraq with excess capacity of up to 500 megawatts, Shalash added.
LONG TERM PROJECTS
Electricity purchases were, however, not sustainable in the long term with $300 million spent so far this year and the bill forecast to rise to $1 billion in 2006, he said.
Iraq's medium term plan was to implement $20 billion worth of electricity projects by 2010 to raise capacity to 18,000 megawatts solely through donor funding, Shalash said.
Iraq was in advanced talks with Japan on how to utilise the bulk of $3.5 billion of soft loans in electricity projects.
Iran was ready to give as much as $2-3 billion for power plants that its own firms can construct, Shalash added.
A recent visit to Germany had also won promises to access for the first time as much as $1 billion in soft loans by one of the major Western opponents of the U.S. led war, said Shalash.
The funds will finance several key projects such as degasification of flared liquefied natural gas for electricity.
Rehabilitation of major power plants of Mussayab, Nassiriya, Baiji and Baghdad's Dura would be completed by year end.
An extra 500 megawatts will come on stream later this year from a 10 unit gas turbine plant constructed near the city of Mussayab which was originally due for completion in June 2004.
The delay in constructing the plant explains how bureaucracy and high security costs have eaten a major chunk of $5.6 billion allocated by the U.S. for electricity projects, Shalash said.
"Instead of $5.6 billion we ended up with just about a $1 billion or even less in projects. The sums spent in the last two years could have been better spent and the results could have been better," Shalash said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Try to stay on Topic Moron!
Blue Stater,
MarketWatch reports that:
U.S. consumer confidence falls sharply in August
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. consumer confidence weakened sharply in August, the Conference Board said Tuesday. The consumer confidence index fell to 99.6 in August from a revised 107.0 in July. This is the lowest level of confidence since last November, when hurricanes battered the southern United States. The fall was sharper than expected. Economists expected the index to drop to 102.7 from the initial estimate of 106.5 in July. Expectations for inflation in the next year rose to 5.5% from 5.1% in July. This is the highest level since last October.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh wow more polls, now your really reaching, the Economy has been as strong if not stronger than it was before 9-11.
The economy is strong and you just cant stand it.
And you ae off topic as well.
Nice try, but it doesnt wash.
JG,
I believe you are being targeted Marie by a computer generated list from the hatemongers of the left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You have to remember who isnt here all of the sudden JG, Mrs. Green lol
This is all her I bet
Overall the economy is fairly strong, but inflation is a slight concern, consumer index falling, and the bust in the real estate. Most of the inflation is caused by the price of oil, which how the products are shipped to the stores. (makes sense lol) Another thing that also concerns me is the high amount of debt Americans are in(myself included lol) which would effect the consumer confidence. With the holiday season coming up (ie Christmas and for myself and other Jewish people Hannakah) It may take a turn around. Only time will tell if the consumer index rises or falls. (my prediction it is going to roller coaster)
Here I am.
This only proves my point, a huge government is very ineffecient. My solution which is primarily a Republican idea I like "privatization" privatize FEMA. It would have worked alot better when companies bid and compete on recovery efforts. The same with medicaid/medicare which I support expansion of. Let private industry like insurance companies handle medicaid and medicare. It would work if politicians would set provision not letting these companies abuse government money.
Penn,
Overall the economy is fairly strong, but inflation is a slight concern, consumer index falling, and the bust in the real estate. Most of the inflation is caused by the price of oil, which how the products are shipped to the stores. (makes sense lol) Another thing that also concerns me is the high amount of debt Americans are in(myself included lol) which would effect the consumer confidence. With the holiday season coming up (ie Christmas and for myself and other Jewish people Hannakah) It may take a turn around. Only time will tell if the consumer index rises or falls. (my prediction it is going to roller coaster)
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I think you hit the nail on the head. I think gas prices are the cause of all of this inflation talk. What I dont understand is how the economy has managed to stay strong through Terrorist attacks, Natural Disasters, Gas Prices, 2 Wars, it has to be in most part because of the Tax cuts!
But I'm with you on this one, I think it's going to go up and down and all over the place for a bit. But I still think the economy is going to remain strong. A bit of good news though, oil closed at under 70 bucks a barrel today, that should start a good trend.
Mrs Green,
Here I am.
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Thank's for the warning!!!!
Penn,
This only proves my point, a huge government is very ineffecient. My solution which is primarily a Republican idea I like "privatization" privatize FEMA. It would have worked alot better when companies bid and compete on recovery efforts. The same with medicaid/medicare which I support expansion of. Let private industry like insurance companies handle medicaid and medicare. It would work if politicians would set provision not letting these companies abuse government money.
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You have a good point, if we look back through History every single Natural Disaster was supported and rebuilt not just by the Government, but by the private sector. Here in Oklahoma City when the Murrah Building got bombed, it was the private sector that paid for alot of the reconstruction of the surrounding buildings that were damaged some that had to be demolished and rebuilt.
That's why I am a fan of big business (With the exception of "Eminent Domain"). Big business helps in the creation of millions of jobs, donations for programs for the needy, and reconstruction in Natural Disaster and man made disaster areas, like the OKC bombing and I'm sure soon to come the WTC and the affected buildings around ground zero just to name a few.
And tax cuts have a big part to play in big business being able to afford all this.
I'm sure the Country understands except for the (Loones on the left) why the Government had to be expanded with the new office of Homeland Security and all that so we have a chance NOT to get attacked again, but that's a subject for another time.
You make some good, strong, valid points :-)
Oh yeah, dont feel alone, your not the only one who went into debt over this oil crap lol.
The only big business right now that angers me is the oil industry. The oil industry brags about 10 billion dollar profits(which you can see why). The Federal Government should give Mobil/Exxon, Shell/Texaco, BP/Amoco, and Citgo a bill for the tax money that had to be used to help low-income and elderly(which I have nothing against) afford their heating bill. All of the oil companies should be taxed for this reason. Not over taxed, but what it cost American Taxpayers to help the lower income and elderly.
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The oil companies have always been exploiters and now they are savagely getting a return on their investments. That's the way it works. I used to complain about the insurance companies but instead of complaining,whining and wringing my hands I decided to invest my hard earned money and get in on it. Anyone is free to do the same if you think oil is a good investment. Hint* they aren't going to be able to rake in these types of profits for very much longer because the market can bear it so tell your teacher union retirement funds to divest themselves of big oil.
Penn,
The only big business right now that angers me is the oil industry. The oil industry brags about 10 billion dollar profits(which you can see why). The Federal Government should give Mobil/Exxon, Shell/Texaco, BP/Amoco, and Citgo a bill for the tax money that had to be used to help low-income and elderly(which I have nothing against) afford their heating bill. All of the oil companies should be taxed for this reason. Not over taxed, but what it cost American Taxpayers to help the lower income and elderly.
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I totally agree!!!
There are these boys in Oklahoma that have said basicaly "Screw This" lol and have gone back to the Horse and Buggy, I cant find that story at the moment it's about a month or 2 old, but when I read that I was dying laughing and I thought, if the oil companies hear about this they may decide to get a grip!
Next thing you know we will have reconstruction going on all over again on our highway's here for "The Horse and Buggy Lane".
Which doesnt sound like such a bad idea when you think about it except when it's 105 degrees!
JG,
The oil companies have always been exploiters and now they are savagely getting a return on their investments. That's the way it works. I used to complain about the insurance companies but instead of complaining,whining and wringing my hands I decided to invest my hard earned money and get in on it. Anyone is free to do the same if you think oil is a good investment. Hint* they aren't going to be able to rake in these types of profits for very much longer because the market can bear it so tell your teacher union retirement funds to divest themselves of big oil.
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LOL that's the way to do it!
And I thought I was doing something by boycotting gas on Sunday's.
I should have been cashing in all along lol
There is nothing wrong with making any money in any investments, I used to have stocks myself. My complaint is when it is exploited to a point where tax dollars have to be used to help the lower income groups for a necessity is where it bothers me. Many senior citizens were sold out by the government believing Social Security would be sufficent to live off of when they retired. Unfortunatly, no one ever imagines back in 1950 how much inflation would skyrocket and the big picture was missed. Now many of the senior citizen are living at an income on Social Security cannot afford their heating oil, food, clothing, housing, which are the basic necessities of life. Even if they own their homes, they still have outrageous property taxes to pay. I feel bad when they have to do this, but they rely on government services to help out with their heating bill. I feel they paid taxes for many many years and glad to see all of that income they paid come back to them, but they are no longer paying it in most cases. My point is the oil companies made the huge profit, they can re-pay the government for services rendered. That is my point.
Penn,
I know what you mean, the elderly seem to get hit the worst with this situation and the poor, and I think price gauging is what has been going on all along.
It's one thing to make a profit but the SIZE of the profit the Oil Companies are making is what is shocking.
That's why I started boycotting buying any gas on Sunday's. So I cut back on any traveling or some extras on Sunday's, hell it's been to hot here to do anything much anyway.
But just thinking of Grandma getting it socked to her over gasoline, dampened my spirit on the Oil Industry, not to mention we are at war and the oil company's should give us all a break just for that reason.
I am sure you know of the solutions to the problem as well as I do and boycotting on a certain day is a noble idea, but it isn't going to work. We need to do one of several things.
#1 Stop selling our oil in Alaska to Asian countries and start using it in America.I do have many environmental concerns over this, but we are drilling oil in Alaska now. I agree with the Green Party's stance environmentalism and industry can go hand to hand and can work with each other.
#2 Promote the usage of Ethanol based fuels. many modern cars can be modified to use these types of fuels.(I have used E85 in my 1994 Chevrolet Lumina and it runs fine, even with 210,000 miles and still running strong! My 2003 Chryler Town and Country is able to run off of E85 as well)
#3 Develope some other alternative fuel source.
The answer and the point to these solutions have one thing in common.
We cannot depend on foreign countries for any type of energy source.
For you J.G. it takes alot of money to invest in those oil companies. I am too reluctant to invest because like you said the market could bear and bottom out tommorow morning. Also I am not a teacher so the teachers union investing in the oil industry would not benefit my retirement.
:-)
Penn,
Well I agree with all 3 of your plans. As a matter of fact President Bush has said on numerous occasions that we need to get away from Foreign oil.
I kind of like the Hybrid idea myself, here in Oklahoma Hybrid's are starting to sell like hot cakes.
Then again I like the Ethanol idea, that would sure give the Farmers work.
Then again I saw on the Discovery channel or one of those channels these boys that got a motor to run off Vegetable Oil!
It seems there is a decent rush on to find another solution to this mess, and from what I understand the Federal Government is willing to pay a Million bucks to anyone who can come up with an idea.
But the Govt may want to make that several million to be split among a host of ideas because there are kids even comming up with some excellant solutions.
I know boycotting gas was just my own little way of sticking it to the oil companys :-)
I have to tell you Penn_Prog you sound an awful lot like a colleague of mine that retired from my workplace recently ;-) If that's you Don then gotcha covered. If not that OK too. Don and I discussed these matters in a friendly manner even if we did not always agree on everything.
Anyway, many pension funds derive huge benefit in profits from the stock market and that's good. The Federal Employees pension fund is heavily invested in the market and they have some of the best retirement benefits in the country. The people that administer Social Security don’t collect from it, is that amazing or what? If social security were privatized it would also be able to reap a better return from the increase in value of stocks to its overall historical 8 percent. If you really look at Social Security you will se it is funded with the taxes brought in and from the sale of treasury bonds. If you take it to the next step, since the Chinese own most of our debt right now then it can be fairly stated that Chinese actually have a stake in your social security benefits too.
No amount of common sense is going to prevail here. The democrats will run out in front of every microphone they find if one word of privatization is mentioned calling for the heads of every Republican saying the Republicans want to steal social security and give it to the rich and your grandma will have to live in a cardboard box and eat dog food from the dollar store. Nothing will ever be changed until the system is completely broke and there is no other way but to start over.
Right now social security will go broke before generation x will be able to collect. That's because of at least two major factors. Number one is demographics, there is on average two workers paying for one retiree at this point that is a tough problem to solve given the fact that illegals are coming in such huge numbers at an advanced age and will not have contributed much into the system before they are able to collect. Oh yeah, they will collect you can bet on that!
The second major factor for social security being at ultimate risk is the fact that there is no special dedicated trust fund account for social security. All taxes paid in and payments paid out come from the general fund. This is too much of a temptation every year when the budget comes up to "bring home the bacon" to each representatives district. If Mrs. Green thinks that because R's now control the House and Senate that the D's don't have any power she is sadly mistaken and has no idea on how these "fine" institutions work. The D's most certainly get their appropriation money, you can believe that. Its horse traders game and everyone goes home with what they need. Why do you think retention rates of incumbents are so high? The percentage of incumbents returned to office every year is about 97 percent.
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This only proves my point, a huge government is very ineffecient. My solution which is primarily a Republican idea I like "privatization" privatize FEMA. It would have worked alot better when companies bid and compete on recovery efforts.
While I agree the government is too large, contracting isn't the panacea you might think. Private companies just take the same taxpayer money that would have gone to the govt, which can set up a corporate largesse. The govt agency still technically oversees the contractor, sometimes not very efficiently.
Plus, there are several duties that should probably remain governmental, and disaster relief is one of them. If the private contractor screws up then goes bankrupt, where is the accountability? I'd rather see better govt management, if possible.
J G, i am not anywhere close to retirement age, I am only 26 LOL. So you must be thinking of the wrong person. Thats okay, becuase I am glad I found someone in this world that shares some of my moderate views
PA_PROG You make some of the same arguments as my former colleague. I know he vistits my blog but never leaves a comment and I'm not sure why because he certainly wasn't shy when he thought he had me on the ropes when we would have a discussion at work. I like a friendly discussion that has the aim of improving on a difficult situation and maybe some friendly humor.
I'm a supervisor and I want input from the people I work with but I recognize that people like Mrs Green and purple are nothing but demogogues looking to increase their own self worth at the expense of everyone else and they could care less about improving on a bad situation. The hate just oozes from every word. Gosh that makes for such a bad environment for improving things. I'm a seasoned warhorse and I've been throwing these types to the mat for a long time but I'm very disgusted with this type of political discussion and your thoughtful arguments and points are certainly refreshing. I hope you and your generation don't have to be saddled with the type of open political warfare that my generation has had to suffer since the days of Ronald Reagan when liberals started with the name calling, viscious personal attacks and character assasinations. Being "Borked" is a way of life for liberals that must have their way at all costs.
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