Buying Up the Coast for Fun and Profit--LOTS of Profit.

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Thursday March 01, 2007 · 11:44 AM PST

2007/03/01 · 11:44

I've been focusing heavily on the recovery process of Hurricane Katrina lately. Much attention has been devoted to the initial response and its shortcomings, but critiques of the reconstruction are harder to come by.

And now... we come to an issue that is not only being overlooked, but appears to have a very strong public relations effort underway to spin it a certain way.

This is a multi-pronged issue, but in a nutshell, it's this: Big industry is getting free rein to buy up anything it can get its hands on, with encouragement and aid from the government at several levels. In the meantime, coastal residents and local businesses are having to rely on private charities (as well as an Attorney General who will fight for them against people trying to ruin them financially) to get back on their feet.

Much, much more below the fold...

PolitiCalypso

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Thursday February 15, 2007 · 8:16 AM PST

2007/02/15 · 08:16

In the wake of the lawsuit in favor of coastal homeowners who were victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, State Farm Insurance has announced that it will not write any new policies for residents of Mississippi:

Bob Hunter of the Consumer Federation of America said he believed State Farm's action was a warning to other Gulf Coast states.

"I would say it's a warning shot," Hunter said. "The insurance company here, State Farm, is basically saying, 'If you make us pay what we owe, we're gonna ... take it out on your citizens.'"

And here's Mississippi's Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood on it, after the company tried to blame "judicial uncertainty" for its move:

"They [State Farm] created the problem," he said. "If they would have paid what they owed in the first place, there never would have been a lawsuit filed."

I could not agree more with either person.

Much more below the fold...

PolitiCalypso

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Friday October 20, 2006 · 7:44 AM PDT

2006/10/20 · 07:44

I have watched with increasing irritation as the blogosphere castigates John Kerry and Evan Bayh for not donating as much to the DSCC as a small, anonymous blog site would purportedly wish them to.

This diary is likely to incite flames, but you know, sometimes you have to call it what it is. It's a double standard. It is a group of people unfairly leaping on any accusation made against Kerry, who has been doing precisely what they themselves have advocated doing this year.

If we leave Kerry's name out of the equation, what sorts of things have been said about the DSCC here in the past? Read More

A bit of good news: Ivory-billed Woodpeckers likely found in FL

PolitiCalypso

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Friday September 29, 2006 · 1:56 PM PDT

2006/09/29 · 13:56

With all the bad news lately with the disgusting actions of our Congress, I have found myself looking for good news wherever it can be found. My younger sister, who is studying biology and specializes in ornithology, informed me of this piece of good news. In a world where the world's great experiment in democracy decides to grant dictatorial power to an illegitimately installed war criminal executive branch, it's the small things that still give hope. I take heart in this news release from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

Avian biologist Geoffrey Hill of Auburn University in Alabama says his team has collected sound recordings and sight records that show ivory-bills may inhabit the Florida panhandle in the Choctawhatchee River basin.

PolitiCalypso

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Wednesday August 16, 2006 · 9:39 AM PDT

2006/08/16 · 09:39

Today John Kerry sent an e-mail to his approximately 3-million-person subscriber list to raise money for Ned Lamont and two incumbent Senators--Akaka and Menendez--who supported the Kerry-Feingold bill and are in tightly contested races.

Unless I am badly mistaken, Kerry is the first Democrat to support Lamont in such a concrete way. I'll give credit where it's due--Hillary Clinton's HILL PAC did cut him a check after he won the Connecticut primary. The party leadership and most elected officials have endorsed him. But to my knowledge, Kerry is the first to raise money on his behalf on a large scale like this. It's more than simply a statement of "support" to cover one's behind on this issue without any real walking the walk. Kerry is using the valuable resource of his huge e-mail list to draw attention to Lamont while helping two other embattled Democrats who stood against continuing the war indefinitely and are strong liberal voices on other issues. Read More

It's Not the (Lack of a) Draft -- Another Explanation for Youth "Apathy"

PolitiCalypso

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Sunday August 06, 2006 · 6:35 PM PDT

2006/08/06 · 18:35

While reading the comments for Julia Rain's excellent diary "Why the Young Aren't Protesting in the Streets", I noticed a common theme pop up repeatedly: the idea that we needed a military draft, with no college deferments and mandatory community service even for conscientious objectors.

As a 22-year-old who is actively involved in politics and frustrated with the lack of concern among many in my generation, I respectfully disagree. A draft, implemented as many Kos readers would have it, would be, quite possibly, one of the worst options. It would only reinforce what is the true root of the problem.

The problem as I see it is not that young people are apathetic, lazy, self-centered, and so caught up with XBoxes and Facebook that they think of nothing else. The problem is fear and powerlessness. They want to care and to do something, but the power structure is such that they are either ignored or actively penalized for wanting change.

Let me illustrate with a few examples from my own experience in middle school, high school, college, and beyond. Read More

RSS

Buying Up the Coast for Fun and Profit--LOTS of Profit.

Insurance Industry Issues Veiled Threat to the Gulf Coast

Fairness and Rationality, or, Stop Attacking Kerry

A bit of good news: Ivory-billed Woodpeckers likely found in FL

Kerry is raising money for Lamont

It's Not the (Lack of a) Draft -- Another Explanation for Youth "Apathy"