An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Morning Coffee 01/31/08
Judge rules no case in Katrina lawsuit
A New Orleans judge has dismissed a class action lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the latter’s alleged failure to secure the city’s levee system against the flooding that occurred during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
U.S. Judge Stanwood Duval ruled that the Engineers, who built the levee system, could not be prosecuted due to the protection of a 1928 federal law which says the government cannot be sued over flood damage from levee projects.
I’m a little confused here. I was under the impression that there was an agency, made up of NO folks, who were responsible for the maintenance of those levees. This bunch had been under investigation for squandering the funds for the maintenance. Granted, my memory is a little fuzzy. Someone set me straight?
Showdown Nears on Stimulus Bill
The Senate Finance Committee bill would send checks to virtually every American. Individuals would receive $500 — for couples, it would be $1,000 — plus $300 per child. Workers who can show $3,000 in earned income last year — or seniors who had $3,000 in Social Security benefits — would also qualify, even if they earned too little to pay income taxes.
After a revolt among Senate Democrats, Baucus added income caps on eligibility that he had initially rejected, but they are considerably more generous than the ones imposed by the House. Rather than capping eligibility for the full check at $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples, the new bill phases out eligibility at $150,000 for individuals and $300,000 for couples. The committee also said no member of Congress would qualify.
Why does that commercial of the man sticking his chewing gum on the leak in the dam come to mind?
Police target Latin Kings after 2 arrests in slaying
Milwaukee police Wednesday promised a crackdown on the Latin Kings after arresting two members of a violent street gang in connection with the slaying of a Miller Brewing Co. executive.
Question: The police knew this gang to be violent previous to this murder. Why weren’t they targeting them before this happened? Why wait until a man lost his life?
Tighter ID rules for U.S. border begin
New rules for the types of identification U.S. or Canadian citizens must present to cross into the country shouldn’t cause significant delays and won’t be strictly enforced at first, a senior federal official said.
Under the rules going into effect Thursday, people will no longer be allowed to simply declare to immigration officers at border crossings that they are citizens, Jayson Ahern, deputy commissioner with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said Tuesday.
Instead, those 19 and older will have to show proof of citizenship—a passport, trusted traveler card or a birth certificate and government-issued ID such as a driver’s license.
“Won’t be strictly enforced”? That’s what helped get us into this mess to begin with! And what about those who don’t bother with crossing at the check points? Will they be going out of their way to show ‘proof of citizenship’? Pfft!
Israel says Libya unworthy of seat on UN Security Council
During a debate on the Middle East, Libya’s UN ambassador, Giadalla Ettalhi, angered his Israeli counterpart by accusing the Jewish state of “ethnic cleansing” and rampant human rights violations in the Palestinian territories. Referring to Israel’s recent closure of border crossings with Gaza in response to Palestinian rocket fire, Ettalhi spoke of what he called the “Zionist escalation” and “terrorism practiced by the occupation authorities against the Palestinian people.”
Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman responded by referring to an article in the UN Charter, which says special attention should be paid to countries’ contributions “to the maintenance of international peace” when electing them to the council.
“The importance of this paragraph was highlighted by the litany of bias, distortion, bigotry and hate delivered by a representative of a country that was itself under sanctions … not long ago, the same people who gave the world Lockerbie,” he said.
Uh….why did the U.S. drop it’s opposition to Libya being on the council? And when are we going to kick the whole lot of ‘em off our soil?
President invites intl. companies to participate in nuclear plant projects
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has invited foreign countries to join Iran in building nuclear power plants.
The Islamic Republic is approaching the peak of nuclear development and will not relinquish one iota of its nuclear rights, Ahmadinejad told a crowed in the southern city of Bushehr.
He said Bushehr nuclear power plant is expected to become operational in the summer of 2008.
Well, wasn’t that nice of the ‘Booboo? Inviting folks to build nukes? Well, he says power plants, but I doubt if it’ll stop there. Just what are ‘nuclear rights’ anyway?
Lobbyists find more ways to bond with lawmakers
Despite a strict new ban on gifts to lawmakers, lobbyists routinely use these prime locations to legally wine and dine members of Congress while helping them to raise money, campaign records show. The lawmakers get a venue that is often free or low-cost, a short jaunt from the Capitol. The lobbyists get precious uninterrupted moments with lawmakers — the sort of money-fueled proximity the new lobbying law was designed to curtail. The public seldom learns what happens there because the law doesn’t always require fundraising details to be reported.
It might be a good idea to have someone parked outside of these houses, camera in hand, to see exactly who is being wined and dined. Pictures come in real handy. Let’s face it, we don’t have a say in our government anymore. Wouldn’t it be nice to say “Hey, Senator Joe Blowhard! What were you doing partying with all those lobbyists last week, before that big bill you signed onto that gave their company some serious consideration?”
A winter weather advisory that started at 9:25 p.m. Wednesday will continue until noon today, according to the National Weather Service.
“Right now, it doesn’t look like any snow at this point” in the forecast, meteorologist Chris Chaskelson said Wednesday. But an ice accumulation of up to a quarter inch is possible, he said.
That nice little coating of ice out on my deck tells me ……darn….they got it right!
Bush pushes for amnesty in final State of the Union
Immigration activist William Gheen doesn’t understand why President Bush would use his final State of the Union address to push something that the vast majority of the American people reject.
Well, probably because he doesn’t actually give a happy crap what the American people want, or don’t want.
Senator Introduces Bill That Would Allow Gun Training in Schools
A significant drop in the number of hunters in West Virginia has left a hole in the state’s budget, and one lawmaker thinks he has a solution: allow children to receive hunter training in school.
Seventh- through ninth-graders could opt for instruction in topics ranging from survival skills to gun safety, but the weapons would have dummy ammunition or be disabled. Sen. Billy Wayne Bailey, who introduced the bill this month, doesn’t envision students firing real guns during class time.
Interesting idea. They should probably start a program like this countrywide. If things continue they way they are going, kids are going to need serious survival skills.
Regarding New Orleans…
“After Hurricane Betsy in 1965, the USACE became the sole authority for the design and construction of flood protection metro New Orleans. The role of the levee boards became primarily maintenance (making sure the grass was cut, paying our 20% of the cost of the levees and reporting leaks to the corp). In time, the levee boards became a source of patronage and some state money may have been diverted to projects unrelated to flood safety; however, such diversion was not relevant to the flood protection failures. The levee failures were due to poor design and construction not to maintenance.”
“The Corps has admitted only to poor design of floodwalls on the 17th Street and London Avenue canals (these are what was in question in this lawsuit). They have not admitted to a litany of errors that they control. For example, levee walls in many areas were 2 feet too low, levees were not armored, levees mainly in eastern New Orleans and St. Bernard parish were filled with erodable sand instead of good clay, and numerous connective points were improperly constructed. The Corps chose the wrong standard project hurricane, therefore designing for too weak a storm and the Corps used a margin of safety appropriate for cattle, not people and their property.”
Info taken from Levees.org
Ok, thanks Jaime. So much has gone on with that whole fiasco, it’s hard to keep it all straight. :/