Well score another one for the federal government and against the residents and taxpayers of the nation. The Associated Press is reporting:
A federal judge threw out a key class-action lawsuit Wednesday against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over levee breaches after Hurricane Katrina, saying that the agency failed to protect the city but that his hands were tied by the law.
U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval ruled that the Corps should be held immune over failures in drainage canals that caused much of the flooding of New Orleans in August 2005.
The ruling relies on the Flood Control Act of 1928, which made the federal government immune when flood control projects like levees break.
The suit led to about 489,000 claims by businesses, government entities and residents, totaling trillions of dollars in damages against the agency.
I understand the court ruled in the only way they could, but loopholes like this must be closed. The government can’t at one time be “in charge” but on the other hand “immune when flood control projects like levees break.” If anybody is aware of another business or organization, other then the federal government, that could get away with this please let me know.
I am a big fan of the Government Accountability Office (GAO). As one of the primary oversight agency’s, they do stellar work. But sometimes I wonder if they feel like they are just beating their heads against the collective walls. Having to detail in hundred page reports to Congress and the American public the most obvious points:
Insurance companies’ handling of damage claims from hurricanes, where both wind and water destroy property, needs closer government scrutiny, U.S. congressional investigators said on Wednesday.
Following bitter complaints from some Gulf Coast homeowners about insurance coverage after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) urged better assessment of “the accuracy of flood payments on hurricane-damaged properties.”
The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, said questions remain about the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s approach to flood-damage claims processed by private insurers for the government under its National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
Tonight the armies of compassion continue the march to a new day in the Gulf Coast. America honors the strength and resilience of the people of this region. We reaffirm our pledge to help them build stronger and better than before. And tonight I’m pleased to announce that in April we will host this year’s North American Summit of Canada, Mexico, and the United States in the great city of New Orleans.
That is an important question Katrina vanden Heuvel asks writing in the Huffington post:
The investigation shows lawlessness, but also a stunning inhumanity. Thompson interviews unrepentant vigilantes, and a video accompanying the article includes footage of vigilantes joking that shooting blacks “was like pheasant season in South Dakota. If it moved, you shot it.” Thompson details the suspicious death of Henry Glover, who according to eyewitnesses was shot by vigilantes and then bled to death in his car while police beat his would-be rescuer. Most troubling in all of this is the role of law enforcement, as witnesses allege that New Orleans police covered up and destroyed evidence, authorized the shootings and savagely beat witnesses.
To date, not a single incident has ever been investigated. New Orleans police, Homeland Security and the State of Louisiana have refused to answer questions for over 8 months, and Thompson (with the invaluable support of the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute) had to sue to gain access to autopsy records. In total Thompson reviewed over 800 autopsies and state death reports, and amassed a pile of evidence that substantiate his report. “As a reporter who has spent more than a decade covering crime,” he wrote, “I was startled to meet so many people with so much detailed information about potentially serious offenses, none of whom have ever been interviewed by police.”
The full extent of the disregard for poor African-Americans and the embarrassing failure of leadership laid bare by Katrina still remains unknown.
Olbermann on a nightly basis is trying to keep track of all the Bush scandals so we don’t have to. Last night he highlighted some of the more egregious violations of decency the Bush administration has brought on the public. They include the KBR "gang" rape case, CIA "snuff" tapes, and Hurrican Katrina.
The corps, which constructed the levee system overwhelmed during Hurricane Katrina, received 247 claims and faces nearly 500,000 more for damages and deaths that occurred in the hurricane’s aftermath, USA Today reported Monday.
One personal injury claim seeks $3 quadrillion, about 250 times the U.S. gross domestic product, and another resident in the heavily damaged New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward is seeking $6 trillion.
Olbermann on a nightly basis is trying to keep track of all the Bush scandals so we don’t have to. Last night he highlighted some of the more egregious violations of decency the Bush administration has brought on the public. They include the KBR "gang" rape case, CIA "snuff" tapes, and Hurrican Katrina.
The corps, which constructed the levee system overwhelmed during Hurricane Katrina, received 247 claims and faces nearly 500,000 more for damages and deaths that occurred in the hurricane’s aftermath, USA Today reported Monday.
One personal injury claim seeks $3 quadrillion, about 250 times the U.S. gross domestic product, and another resident in the heavily damaged New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward is seeking $6 trillion.
I wish this wasn’t necessary, but I can’t argue that this isn’t both good news (in the context of the current situation) and necessary. The Associated Press is reporting that the:
National Guard troops bolstering New Orleans’ hurricane-depleted police force will remain in the city through June, a spokeswoman for Gov.-elect Bobby Jindal said.
Guard troops have patrolled less-populated areas, including the storm-ravaged Lower 9th Ward, while the city and its police force have worked to bounce back from Hurricane Katrina and clamp down on violent crime. The Guard has had a continuous presence here since five teenagers were killed in June 2006.
At the city’s request, Jindal will grant "one final extension" to allow a new recruiting class to hit the streets and to develop what the City Council called "an effective strategy to mitigate the scourge of violent crime," Jindal press secretary Melissa Sellers said.
In a sign of continuing recovery from Hurricane Katrina, a group that tracks Mississippi River traffic says more deep-draft cargo ships entered the river in 2007 than the year before.
Last year, 5,442 vessels arrived at Louisiana ports along the Mississippi, compared with 5,103 vessels in 2006, according to the figures released Tuesday by the nonprofit New Orleans Board of Trade. Shipping traffic hit a longtime low point after the storm, with just 4,950 vessel arrivals recorded for 2005.
This is vital to the economy of New Orleans, since the port of South Louisiana, New Orleans, and Baton Rouge rank third, fourth, and fifteenth in total revenue worldwide.
When you really mess stuff up people get pissed. When there appears to be clear neglect on the part of the Federal government and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers people are going to want to be reimbursed for both their property and pain and suffering. According to MSNBC:
Hurricane Katrina’s victims have put a price tag on their suffering and it is staggering—including one plaintiff seeking the unlikely sum of $3 quadrillion.
The total number—$3,014,170,389,176,410—is the dollar figure so far sought from some 489,000 claims filed against the federal government over damage from the failure of levees and flood walls following the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane.
Of the total number of claims, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it has received 247 for at least $1 billion apiece, including the one for $3 quadrillion.
The article is well worth a read, but what I found most interesting is that the City of New Orleans has filed their own claim for $77 billion claim as well as a dozen plus insurance companies.
