Compassionate Conservatives

[Brian Rucker]

The latest elected official to step into the swamp was Rep. Richard H. Baker, a 10-term Republican from Baton Rouge. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that he was overheard telling lobbyists: "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did."

Democrats, of course, gleefully disseminated the report, saying they detected a GOP pattern. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) recently spoke of bulldozing part of New Orleans, they reminded everyone, and Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) suggested punishing people who had ignored pre-storm evacuation orders.
Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, Santorum was drawing a second round of fire, this time for saying the National Weather Service's forecasts and warnings about Katrina's path were "not sufficient."
Santorum, long at odds with the federal agency, is pushing a bill that would require it to surrender some of its duties to private businesses, some of them located in his state.
These days it seems that no Republican remark is too small or ambiguous to trigger a Democratic mass mailing. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee yesterday sent links to a Houston Chronicle blogger who had watched House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (Tex.) tour the Astrodome, where children evacuated from New Orleans were playing. The blog reported that DeLay "likened their stay to being at camp and asked, 'Now, tell me the truth, boys, is this kind of fun?' " The blogger said the youngsters "nodded yes, but looked perplexed."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/09/AR2005090901930.html

[Brian Rucker]

After the political tidal wave of 1994 swept conservatives into control of Congress, Republicans doggedly tried -- and repeatedly failed -- to repeal a Depression-era law that requires federal contractors to pay workers the prevailing wages in their communities. Eleven days after the deluge of Hurricane Katrina, President Bush banished the requirement, at least temporarily, with the stroke of his pen.

The president's suspension of the Davis-Bacon rules on wages is one example of the many avenues the disaster has opened for the administration and lawmakers of both political parties to incorporate long-held -- and normally polarizing -- policy goals into the huge federal aid racing to the Gulf Coast.

Federal procurement agents are using the outpouring of federal largess -- $62 billion so far -- to ease quotas for minority and small businesses in government contracts. Republicans are trying to revive, for schoolchildren displaced in the disaster, their frustrated efforts to create government vouchers for private schools. Democrats, meanwhile, are trying to use the emergency to expand Medicaid health insurance for low-income families and to reverse some tax cuts Bush pushed through Congress.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/09/AR2005090901867.html

[Brian Rucker]

Nagin's counterparts in neighboring parishes have said essentially the same thing he has. Aaron Broussard, the Jefferson Parish president, told CBS News that the federal government would have to be held accountable for what happened.

"Bureaucracy has murdered people in the greater New Orleans area, and bureaucracy needs to stand trial before Congress today," Broussard said. "Take whatever idiot they have at the top, give me a better idiot. Give me a caring idiot. Give me a sensitive idiot. Just don't give me the same idiot."

Officials in hard-hit St. Bernard Parish were just as derisive of federal efforts.

But Hogan said it would be unwise for any of them, especially Nagin, to keep the fight going.

"The Bush administration has the upper hand because they have the apparatus in place to come up with fingers to point," he said. "They have surrogates. They have a huge network that can help them through talk radio and national radio. They have talking points. State and local governments in Louisiana aren't in the propaganda mode. They don't have the ability to fight back. They are in the rescue and rebuilding mode."

Nagin has shown signs that he wants to reach out. Once the Superdome and the Convention Center -- from which horrible scenes were broadcast around the world -- were cleared, Nagin thanked everyone who provided resources and complimented the Army lieutenant general who helped get the ball moving. He also has attempted to show his human side.

"You know, my heart is broken," Nagin said. "And, you know, it's, it's a tough thing, when you see a city that you love so much, and you see it so devastated and so -- almost dead, and you wonder what the future looks like. I'm basically homeless now."

Even those who approve of the mayor said that the crisis is a reminder of how dependent local officials are on the state and federal government during a crisis. New Nagin supporter Brown, who lost his home and his wife's business in the storm, said the mayor's hands were tied. If he had ordered an earlier evacuation, and enforced it, Brown said, he would have encountered another problem.

"Where are we going to send them?" Brown asked. "If you say mandatory, you got to have somewhere for people to go. He don't control nothing but New Orleans."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/09/AR2005090901767_2.html

[Midnight Son]

That's right. On top of their lives being destroyed, the victims of Katrina can now be paid sub-standard wages if they help in the reconstruction effort.
Kick 'em while they're down........

[beecubed]

These days it seems that no Republican remark is too small or ambiguous to trigger a Democratic mass mailing. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee yesterday sent links to a Houston Chronicle blogger who had watched House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (Tex.) tour the Astrodome, where children evacuated from New Orleans were playing. The blog reported that DeLay "likened their stay to being at camp and asked, 'Now, tell me the truth, boys, is this kind of fun?' " The blogger said the youngsters "nodded yes, but looked perplexed."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/09/AR2005090901930.html

that is fucking asinine. the press gleefully goes along with the republicans every time a democrat says something stupid, but when democrats play the same game they are clearly being mean and petty.

[flyinj]

Nagin's counterparts in neighboring parishes have said essentially the same thing he has. Aaron Broussard, the Jefferson Parish president, told CBS News that the federal government would have to be held accountable for what happened.

"Bureaucracy has murdered people in the greater New Orleans area, and bureaucracy needs to stand trial before Congress today," Broussard said. "Take whatever idiot they have at the top, give me a better idiot. Give me a caring idiot. Give me a sensitive idiot. Just don't give me the same idiot."

Officials in hard-hit St. Bernard Parish were just as derisive of federal efforts.

But Hogan said it would be unwise for any of them, especially Nagin, to keep the fight going.

"The Bush administration has the upper hand because they have the apparatus in place to come up with fingers to point," he said. "They have surrogates. They have a huge network that can help them through talk radio and national radio. They have talking points. State and local governments in Louisiana aren't in the propaganda mode. They don't have the ability to fight back. They are in the rescue and rebuilding mode."

Nagin has shown signs that he wants to reach out. Once the Superdome and the Convention Center -- from which horrible scenes were broadcast around the world -- were cleared, Nagin thanked everyone who provided resources and complimented the Army lieutenant general who helped get the ball moving. He also has attempted to show his human side.

"You know, my heart is broken," Nagin said. "And, you know, it's, it's a tough thing, when you see a city that you love so much, and you see it so devastated and so -- almost dead, and you wonder what the future looks like. I'm basically homeless now."

Even those who approve of the mayor said that the crisis is a reminder of how dependent local officials are on the state and federal government during a crisis. New Nagin supporter Brown, who lost his home and his wife's business in the storm, said the mayor's hands were tied. If he had ordered an earlier evacuation, and enforced it, Brown said, he would have encountered another problem.

"Where are we going to send them?" Brown asked. "If you say mandatory, you got to have somewhere for people to go. He don't control nothing but New Orleans."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/09/AR2005090901767_2.html

That's funny- I was actually discussing this with my friends last night.

I bet $10 that the Republicans would be using the Hurricane against the Democrats in 06... somehow turning the entire thing around to make it look like all their fault. Not only that, but the nation of mouthbreathers would again eat it all up and reelect them.

There was a clause, however- If Rove went to jail in october, all bets were off.

[Brian Rucker]

WASHINGTON, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W. Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.

One is Shaw Group Inc. (SGR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and the other is Halliburton Co. (HAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.

Bechtel National Inc., a unit of San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp., has also been selected by FEMA to provide short-term housing for people displaced by the hurricane. Bush named Bechtel's CEO to his Export Council and put the former CEO of Bechtel Energy in charge of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

Experts say it has been common practice in both Republican and Democratic administrations for policy makers to take lobbying jobs once they leave office, and many of the same companies seeking contracts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina have already received billions of dollars for work in Iraq.

Halliburton alone has earned more than $9 billion. Pentagon audits released by Democrats in June showed $1.03 billion in "questioned" costs and $422 million in "unsupported" costs for Halliburton's work in Iraq.

But the web of Bush administration connections is attracting renewed attention from watchdog groups in the post-Katrina reconstruction rush. Congress has already appropriated more than $60 billion in emergency funding as a down payment on recovery efforts projected to cost well over $100 billion.

"The government has got to stop stacking senior positions with people who are repeatedly cashing in on the public trust in order to further private commercial interests," said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticleSearch.aspx?storyID=121777+10-Sep-2005+RTRS&srch=halliburton

[VegasRobb]

Sadly, I've heard that "public housing" comment before. "New" New Orleans could have a very different racial makeup once it's all said and done.

As for conservatives complaining about the democrats using their same tactics. Of course they have to complain, once both sides are using the same argument, it becomes less effective.

[Brian Rucker]

Congressional Republicans, backed by the White House, say they are using relief measures for the hurricane-ravaged Gulf coast to achieve a broad range of conservative economic and social policies, both in the storm zone and beyond.

Some new measures are already taking shape. In the past week, the Bush administration has suspended some union-friendly rules that require federal contractors pay prevailing wages, moved to ease tariffs on Canadian lumber, and allowed more foreign sugar imports to calm rising sugar prices. Just yesterday, it waived some affirmative-action rules for employers with federal contracts in the Gulf region.

Now, Republicans are working on legislation that would limit victims' right to sue, offer vouchers for displaced school children, lift some environment restrictions on new refineries and create tax-advantaged enterprise zones to maximize private-sector participation in recovery and reconstruction. Yesterday, the House overwhelmingly passed a bill that would offer sweeping protection against lawsuits to any person or organization that helps Katrina victims without compensation.

"The desire to bring conservative, free-market ideas to the Gulf Coast is white hot," says Rep. Mike Pence, the Indiana Republican who leads the Republican Study Group, an influential caucus of conservative House members. "We want to turn the Gulf Coast into a magnet for free enterprise. The last thing we want is a federal city where New Orleans once was."

Many of the ideas under consideration have been pushed by the 40-member study group, which is circulating a list of "free-market solutions," including proposals to eliminate regulatory barriers to awarding federal funds to religious groups housing hurricane victims, waiving the estate tax for deaths in the storm-affected states; and making the entire region a "flat-tax free-enterprise zone."

Members of the group met in a closed session Tuesday night at the conservative Heritage Foundation headquarters here to map strategy. Edwin Meese, the former Reagan administration attorney general, has been actively involved.

Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R., Kan.) said that the plans under development "are all part of a philosophy of lowering costs for doing business." He said southern Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama offer a "microcosm" where new ideas can be applied to speed the rebuilding.
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB112674719461641356-xBXMJZ6RgAI_jvfdeMefSiDrmf0_20051015,00.html

[MarchHare]

moved to ease tariffs on Canadian lumber


How is that part of the conservative agenda? The tariffs on Canadian lumber were ruled illegal by the highest NAFTA tribunal; the Bush admin has no choice but to remove them.

[Brian Rucker]

When Congress agreed this spring to tighten the bankruptcy laws and crack down on consumers who took on debt irresponsibly, no one had the victims of Hurricane Katrina in mind.

But four weeks after New Orleans flooded and tens of thousands of other residents of the Gulf Coast also lost their homes and livelihoods, a stricter new personal bankruptcy law scheduled to take effect on Oct. 17 is likely to deliver another blow to those dislocated by the storm.

The law was intended to keep individuals from taking on debts they had no intention of paying off. But many once-solvent Katrina victims are likely to be caught up in the net intended to catch deadbeats.

Right after Hurricane Katrina struck, several lawmakers - mostly Democrats but including some Senate Republicans - suggested that storm victims along the Gulf Coast should get relief from the new law's stricter provisions, which are intended to screen filers by income and make those with higher incomes repay their debts over several years. Under the old law, which remains in effect until mid-October, many more filers can have their debts canceled quickly in federal bankruptcy courts.

But House Republicans, who fought off a proposed amendment that would have made bankruptcy filings easier for victims of natural disasters, said there was no reason to carve out a broad exemption just because of the storm.

Representative F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. of Wisconsin, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, rejected the notion of reopening the legislation, saying it already included provisions that would ensure that people left "down and out" by the storm would still be able to shed most of their debts. Lawmakers who lost the long fight over the law, he said, "ought to get over it," according to The Associated Press.

A White House spokesman, Trent Duffy, said the administration "doesn't see a lot of merit" in calls to delay the law's effective date but was considering making allowances for hurricane victims.

In the meantime, many victims of Hurricane Katrina - and the much smaller group ruined by Hurricane Rita - will face a kind of Catch-22. Those who try to beat the Oct. 17 deadline in hopes of filing under the less-onerous current law may find it impossible to do so, because residence rules generally require that individuals seek protection against creditors in their hometowns. (Assuming people in New Orleans can find their lawyers and records, they can file for bankruptcy protection in their bankruptcy court, which has reopened and is sharing space with another court in Baton Rouge.)

Moreover, most people displaced by the storm will probably not know for months if they even need to file for bankruptcy. By that time, the tougher new law will be in force.

"Six to nine months from now, FEMA will be gone, the church groups will be gone and creditors will once more be demanding their money," said Bradford W. Botes, a bankruptcy lawyer whose firm represented victims of Hurricane Ivan, which struck Florida a year ago.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/business/27bankrupt.html

[Ben]

That's pretty good evidence of NY Times being liberal.

If they lost their livelihoods they won't have any trouble under the new standard. That article is pretty much nonsensical.

[Jason McCullough]

Among the hurdles in the new law that could most affect hurricane victims is a means test. It requires debtors to provide an estimate of their income by taking an average of their most recent six months' earnings before they can file under Chapter 7. Debtors with higher incomes are to be kept in bankruptcy status for several years, to pay off their debts.

So if you lose everything but you still have a job, you're fucked. Here's the summary, by the way:

http://www.bankruptcyaction.com/bankreform.htm

[Ben]

If they didn't lose their job why do they need to declare bankruptcy?

[Ben Sones]

Just as a "for instance," a person might need to declare bankruptcy if they lost a house and need to repay the mortgage, and for whatever reason the insurance won't cover it. That happens a lot in hurricane country, where many policies don't cover all flood damage (in the same way that a large percentage of people in southern California aren't covered for earthquake damage).

[Jason McCullough]

Yeah, it's basically "less assets" plus "same or more debt load unless you luck out on insurance."

[shift6]

My understanding is that sudden large medical bills are a major cause of bankruptcy among whats left of the working middle-class as well. Sure you've got a house and a job and maybe some savings, but you can't always take out a third or a fourth to cover the primary wage-earner breaking a leg or needing a kidney removed or something.

[Ben]

Ben- You can imagine my tremendous amount of sympathy for wealthy people who didn't insure their house against flood damage when they live below sea level being forced to pay back a fraction of it's worth.

[Ben Sones]

Who says they're wealthy? You just made that criteria up. Lots of non-wealthy folks also lost homes in Katrina, especially in New Orleans, where some of the poorest sections of town had the worst flooding.

[steve]

Who says they're wealthy? You just made that criteria up. Lots of non-wealthy folks also lost homes in Katrina, especially in New Orleans, where some of the poorest sections of town had the worst flooding.
Apparently, those poor areas of New Orleans had a higher-than-average home ownership rate, despite also having 30% unemployment. And I'm guessing most of those owners don't have every form of insurance.

How many people could afford their current mortgage and rent because their house is destroyed?

[Jason McCullough]

who didn't insure their house against flood damage

It's not really expected of people to insure their house against earth-shattering natural disasters in our society, you know. Private insurance is horrible at pricing this sort of thing anyway.

[MikeSofaer]

who didn't insure their house against flood damage

It's not really expected of people to insure their house against earth-shattering natural disasters in our society, you know. Private insurance is horrible at pricing this sort of thing anyway.
How appropriate, then, that flood insurance is sold by the government.

[steve]

How appropriate, then, that flood insurance is sold by the government.
And according to a report on NBC Nightly News (I believe), they under-pay so much on repairs that people are unable to get their houses fixed. At least this was true of their examples in Maryland, I believe.

[MikeSofaer]

How appropriate, then, that flood insurance is sold by the government.
And according to a report on NBC Nightly News (I believe), they under-pay so much on repairs that people are unable to get their houses fixed. At least this was true of their examples in Maryland, I believe.
Does that mean that you disagree with Jason? That you feel government is not to be trusted as a provider of disater insurance?

[Ben]

Ben- Because poor people are unaffected by the bankruptcy law change. That's why they are wealthy.

[Ben Sones]

According to that chart that Jason linked to, "wealthy" starts at $18K a year, for an individual.

[Glenn]

As near as I can tell, in Ben's thinking, everything in the world can be broken down into a series of opposing pairs. Therefore:

>$18k a year = technically not poor = wealthy.