GovernorDoyle met with FEMA head David Paulison yesterday: He says he asked Paulison to have FEMA reimburse local governments up to 90% of their costs for repairing damage to public facilities. FEMA already has agreed to reimburse local governments up to 75% of those expenses. The governor also asked Paulison to skip inspecting 89 homes still underwater and declare them eligible for buyout. Yes there are still homes underwater andFEMA will not inspect them until the water recedes and that could take months … “I’ve put up with this for a month. Nobody’s done anything,” said one homeowner.  “This water’s … Continue reading WI Governor asks FEMA for more help

FromWaPo: The pedestrian who was struck by syndicated political columnist and television pundit Robert D. Novak remained in the hospital today but was sitting up in bed and conversing with a relative and social workers. After the traffic incident yesterday, police misspelled the pedestrian’s name and gave the wrong birth year for him. He is 86-year-old Don Clifford Liljenquist, who has no fixed address. Most recently he has been living at the Emery School Shelter on Lincoln Road NE. He declined through a family member to be interviewed. Continue reading Pedestrian hit by Novak is elderly, homeless

“Is Afghanistan a narco-state?”–Long but good article Woman Chooses Death Over Foreclosure A City’s Police Force Now Doubts Terror Focus A&M scientist: Gulf “dead zone” likely to be biggest ever TheMinimum Wage rises today by 70 cents only to be eaten up by inflation… The new minimum is less than the inflation-adjusted 1997 level of $7.02, and far below the inflation-adjusted level of $10.06 from 40 years ago, according to a Labor Department inflation calculator. A full-time worker who earned the $2.90-an-hour minimum wage in 1979 earned enough to pull a family of three out of poverty. That same family … Continue reading Morning Links

It’s like the Universe spit up a Kharma hairball. Hit and Run Novakula getsnabbed by a cyclist and Katrina-never-hurt-an-oil-rig-McCainhad to cancel his Drill Drill Drill Tour due to a hurricane and an oil spill. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. Let’s close it out with Mr. Lennon and let’s all shine on… Continue reading Jeepers what a day

It’s the40th anniversary of the Office Cubicle this month. The cubicle celebrates its 40th birthday this month. A party is unlikely. What’s to celebrate? The cubicle office system is one of the most derided realities of modern work life. True dat…just ask this guy: http://embed.break.com/NTEzMzEwOffice Worker Goes Absolutely Insane – Watch morefree videos BTW–No cubicles were truly harmed…video is afake  Continue reading Happy Birthday Office Cubicle

Bush whensupposedlyunplugged: It is uncertain, there’s no question about it. Wall Street got drunk, it got drunk, (it’s one of the reasons I asked you to turn off your tv cameras.) It got drunk and now it’s got a hangover. The question is how long will it sober up, and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments. Flip that Prop… And now we got a housing issue, not in Houston, and evidently, not in Dallas, because Laura was over there trying to buy a house today. (laugher.. Crawford!) I like Crawford, unfortunately after eight years of asking her … Continue reading Not like he took away the keys or anything…

FEMA wants Immunity from trailer fumes suits NOLA bloggers led the way on this story of scandal now gaining legs no matter what Nagin says Study: More needed to be done for use of mass transit in evacuation plans for disasters. Finds lack of leadership and few regional urban areas have plans for mass evacuation. And: Meeting the needs of people without cars or those with special needs, such as the disabled and poor, is especially important, White said. “It really is an Achilles’ heel in local emergency plans and response capabilities,” he said. Three years later and I guess … Continue reading Afternoon bacon

From Holden: Bob Herbert tells us how FEMA’s interference killed patients at Methodist Hospital in New Orleans. [A]ccording to Dr. Albert Barrocas, the chief medical officer, the decline in the well-being of the patients was both palpable and widespread. “All of them were deteriorating in the sense of becoming weak,” he said. “You could see in their faces the fact that they were scared.” By Tuesday evening four patients had died, and a dozen were dead by the time the hospital was finally evacuated Friday. Doctors believe half of the deaths were caused by the dreadful conditions in the hospital. … Continue reading Methodist Hospital, New Orleans

…What Oyster says: America’s reaction to the deflation of the housing/credit bubble, and to the Bush Administration and the Federal Reserve’s attempts to sustain the economy by eviscerating the dollar’s value (and freeing the inflation genie) has been, essentially:Gas Prices are TOO HIGH because environmentalists won’t let us drill more! While your tax dollars are bailing out reckless Wall St. firms and providing an unlimited backstop to cover Freddie’s fannie, the talking heads are telling you to direct your anger at those who … oppose oil drilling! It’s madness. It’s blind madness. Go Read it all Continue reading Another edition of…

Mold has been found in FEMA trailers recently provided to flood victims inIowa andIndiana Continue reading Mold in FEMA trailers