What A Difference 3 Years Makes–NOT!

THis is a repost from Lobotero’s info Ink.

Three years ago, on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the US Gulf Coast. The storm devastated nearly 100,000 square miles and displaced over a million people. New Orleans, Louisiana, bore the brunt of this disaster, after the levee system failed and nearly 80 percent of the city was submerged.

Overwhelmingly those most deeply affected by Katrina were among the poorest layers of the working class in a long-impoverished and neglected region of the United States. In the days following the hurricane’s landfall, the initial tragedy in New Orleans was compounded by official neglect, incompetence, and military repression.

However, reflecting the fact that no substantive improvements in safety procedures were implemented after Katrina, no emergency shelters are scheduled to open in New Orleans—nor are there any even designated. In fact, city officials have described the decision as a deliberate attempt to discourage residents from staying.

As of Friday, press reports indicate only 150 of 700 promised buses have been secured for the anticipated evacuation of 30,000 city residents. No shelter arrangements have been made for the nearly 7,000 families still consigned to living in flimsy, storm-vulnerable federal trailers within the New Orleans metro area.

Federal emergency planning has been no better. In an editorial Friday, the New York Times noted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had not fulfilled promises of having an emergency housing plan in place for the inevitable further hurricane damage along the Gulf Coast.

The lack of preparation at all levels of government represents yet another invitation for disaster. This negligence further testifies to the fraudulent, profiteering character of the Gulf Coast reconstruction over the past several years and to its utter disregard for the plight of the working class.

They Are Back!  Gustav is barreling down on the area and the hurricane prep work may not be adequate to handle the destruction.  Gustav may hit the Gulf Coast as a cat 4 or 5 storm.  We will see if the confidence that was placed in elected officials was worth the effort or not.

Announcement

We are watching Gustav hard, once it enters the Yucatan Channel the direction should be more clear.  We at GSFP made it through Katrina and we will make it thru Gustav.  However, we may be down awhile because of power loss.  Please keep checking back, we will return as soon as possible.

Thanx, for viewing and wish us luck.

AL: Obesity Penalty

Obese Alabama state workers may soon pay a health insurance penalty for their excess pounds.

Beginning in January 2009, state employees will be required to receive medical screenings for several conditions, including body mass index (BMI). Those who are considered obese — along with exhibiting other negative health factors — will have a year to get in shape. The penalty for failure? A $25 increase in their monthly insurance costs.

Although critics view the penalty as a “fat tax,” Alabama officials believe the new policies will result in fitter, healthier, and happier employees — as well as help reduce the state’s mounting health care costs.

Alabama now ranks as the second most obese state in the U.S., according to the CDC — perhaps a clear sign that change is needed. In addition to BMI, the state will screen three additional criteria: cholesterol, blood pressure, and glucose levels. These four risk factors have consistently resulted in costly treatments for the state.

MS: Tensions With Immigrants And Unions

Union bosses in this region of rural Mississippi have long grumbled that the largest factories here hire illegal immigrants, and that the immigrants were starting to get more overtime and supervisory positions.

Friction between the union and immigrant workers, along with a tipoff at an electrical manufacturing plant, boiled over this week into the biggest workplace immigration raid in the nation’s history.

When the first of the 595 suspected illegal immigrants was taken into custody Monday, some fellow workers broke into applause. A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the investigation started three years ago after agents received a tip from a union member.

Union members said they resented immigrants, who were often allowed to work as much as 40 hours of overtime a week when other workers were discouraged from doing so. All declined to give their names, saying they feared for their jobs.

In 2002, Mississippi lawmakers approved a $31.5 million, taxpayer-backed incentive plan for Howard Industries to expand. The company, with 4,000 workers, is the largest employer in Jones County, which includes Laurel.

About 2,600 of Howard Industries’ workers are in the union. Shaffer said he did not know whether any of those picked up in the raid were union members, or if nonunion workers were offered overtime while union workers were not.

Shaffer said offering immigrant workers union membership would depend on the situation, but he doubted it could be done if immigrants were in the country illegally.

Gulf South: Gustav

The storm could be in the Gulf of Mexico by Sunday, and that sent global oil prices soaring, according to The Associated Press. At least one model showed the storm headed for New Orleans; but weather experts said that’s too far away to be accurate now.Tropical Storm Gustav was losing steam early Wednesday as it moved through the Caribbean a day after hitting Haiti as a hurricane.

But the storm could regain hurricane strength later in the day or on Thursday once it clears Haiti, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

As of 2 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Gustav’s maximum sustained winds had decreased to 60 mph (95 kph) with higher gusts. The storm was centered about 80 miles (125 kilometers) west of Port-au-Prince and moving toward the west-northwest near 5 mph (7 kph).

South Mississippi residents need to prepare for Hurricane Gustav as though it’s going to hit here, state emergency officials said Tuesday.

The path and strength of Gustav will not likely be clear until this weekend, but Mike Womack, director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, said if people prepared for a storm as though it was headed for them, they will have a plan in place.

AL: Sewage Contaminates Bay Minette

A manhole overflowed today in Bay Minette, discharging an unknown amount of sewage into Hollinger Creek, the Baldwin County Health Department said in a written statement.

The health department advised residents to exercise caution if using the creek for recreational purposes, to thoroughly cook any fish or seafood caught there and wash hands after handling it.

MS: Some Housing Good News

After Katrina, there were few low rent houses left, those took it in the butt pretty hard.  This is at least some good news on the recovery of the low income housing situation.

With a $1.3 million grant from the nonprofit John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the National Trust Loan Fund has created a $5 million loan pool to help develop affordable housing on the Mississippi Coast and in other cities across the country.

Eligible borrowers include community development corporations, nonprofit organizations and for-profit developers, along with local, state or regional government agencies.

Prospective projects for the loan fund must focus on the acquisition and rehabilitation of multiple single-family, multifamily or mixed-use projects, including upper-floor conversions to residential uses.

Prospective properties should be designated as national, state or local historic structures, a contributing resource in a designated historic district or be eligible for such designation. Properties in designated Main Street communities also are eligible.

The maximum loan amount is up to $500,000 per project. Grants are available to assist with loan financing costs and may be available for predevelopment costs on projects that have an impact on community revitalization.

AL: Drug Cartels In Alabama

Mexican drug cartel gangs and their surrogates terror is believed to have reached Shelby County, Alabama in a Birmingham suburb.

Authorities released few details in the case of five men who were found slain in a apartment. They say the men appear to have been bound with duct tape and their throats were slashed.

Very similar to known tactic’s used by Mexican drug cartel gangs and their American gang surrogates.
The three victims who have been identified at this point are: Ezequiel Rebollar-Perrban, 23 years of age, Jaime Echeverria, 30 years of age, Armando Lopez, 20-30 years of age. Two other victims remain unidentified. These ruthless drug gangs according to DEA operative who wants to remain anonymous says, “investigators close to the Shelby county murders of five Mexican males was carried out by Mexican drug gangs or their surrogates and is very likely related to drugs and cash.”

DEA agents say that the cartels’ incursions into the United States are spurring more secondary crimes, such as shootings, kidnapping, and murders.   If this case proves to be Mexican drug cartel related this as well as many other case’s show the dangerous reach of the Mexican drug cartels now goes very deep into middle America and are now reported to be killing, robbing, torturing, kidnapping, and threatening Americans and others at an alarming rate.

AL & MS: Teamsters Strike

I wish I had more info to pass on about the strike against Coke, but there is few comments and recently I went by the local plant to see if the strikers needed anything, but there was no one out there.  It could have been too early and regretably I could not make it by later to see if there were any strikers.

I apoplogize for the lack of info but we are trying to keep all up to date as best we can.

MS: Judge Banned From Writing A Diseent

It may be the first time a majority of the justices voted to prohibit a colleague from publishing a dissent in a case.

In other words, Presiding Justice Oliver Diaz of Ocean Springs disagreed with a court decision and wanted to write about it. His fellow judges said, no, he couldn’t and they apparently stopped the court clerk from filing Diaz’s statement into the record.

Diaz’s document also wasn’t made available to the public, as every other order and dissent are.

Details were sketchy Thursday because the documents weren’t immediately available from the high court.

Thursday, Randolph wrote the decision dismissing the appeal, which the court apparently had agreed to hear and then changed its mind.

Justices voting with Randolph against Diaz and Justice James Graves of Jackson were Ann Hannaford Lamar, George Carlton and Jess Dickinson.

Voting to stop Diaz’s public dissent were Chief Justice Smith and justices William Waller Jr., Carlton, Dickinson and Randolph.

Banning a justice from publishing his dissent is highly unusual, said a former state judge, who asked not to be identified.