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Friday, September 16, 2005

David Brock comes after me. 
In this case, he's shooting blanks.

By way of rebuttal to my assertion that the federal response to Katrina was faster and more voluminous than the federal response to Andrew and any other storm I knew of, Brock musters the anecdotal evidence of a single column by Leonard Pitts, a Miami Herald columnist who's home was damaged by Andrew.

Pitts recalls that there was a FEMA truck with water on it the day after Andrew came through.

All well and good. But Pitts is a Miami Herald columnist. What are the chances he lives in Homestead, where the devastation was really great, and which was all but cut off from ground transportation for days after the storm? Not good.

See, you could get trucks down to Miami the day after the storm. It was logistically possible to do so. It was not logistically possible to get trucks to the hardest hit areas of Homestead, unless they happened to be within throwing distance of one of the exits on the Turnpike. But I-95 does not extend further than Miami. And even with all the challenges, the approaches to Homestead did not rely on a system of bridges and causeways that had been removed from the surface of the earth.

So I'll see Pitt's recollection, and I'll raise him the recollection of actual Homestead residents who live and still live on 300th street (Just south of Avocado, in Homestead) who tell me they saw no evidence of a Federal presence for more than a week. They were completely cut off. "The only thing we saw for two weeks was a church bus." I think eventually a Guardsman came by and asked if they had any dead.

I'll also raise you 30 aircraft and 40 boats boats which the Coast Guard had prepositioned outside the strike zone on the 28th of August, well before the storm even hit.

I'll also raise you the teams of rescue squads and medical personnel that FEMA already had positioned just outside the area before the storm even hit. More specifically, I'll raise you 23 Medical Assistance teams that FEMA had staged outside the storm area before the storm. They moved in when the roads were clear.

I'll also raise you the fact that at 3:45 pm the day of the storm FEMA could not come up with a damage assessment, because "We could not get a team downtown."

If you can't get a few SUVs in, what are the chances you are going to get a serious convoy into town, that day? How reasonable is it to expect that? The water level in St. Bernard Parish had reached the 2nd story of the courthouse. Ok, Brock, even in the South, with its monster truck jams, I've not seen the rig that I'm willing to send into that. I don't care what seal is painted on the side. Have you?

I'll also raise you seven urban search and rescue teams from all over the country that were prepositioned in Shreveport. By the 30th, three more were in the process of deploying.

I'll also raise you more than 390 trucks, which were dispatched by the Department of Transportation, and which began deliveries in affected areas reachable by roads by the 30th. That's two days. 48 hours. Maybe a little more, since the hurricane hit in the morning of the 28th (But didn't clear the coastline until that afternoon, so any movement was impossible, even to clear roads along the coast, until that afternoon or evening).

48 hours is on the front end of the 48-72 hour window local officials are told to expect before federal logistics can be brought to bear. That was an excellent performance at the federal level by any reasonable standard. (Ever seen 390 trucks loaded at the same time, Brock? Do you know what it takes? How many warehouses have enough forklifts to do that in a day?)

I'll further raise you 2 helicopter squadrons from the USS Bataan, which were deployed by the evening of the 30th. Again, roughly 48-56 hours after the storm passed. Since these helos had to be boated in, that's not bad.

I'll further raise you a forward air control unit which was also on the ground within the 72 hour window, to set up lights at New Orleans Airport so it could operate round the clock. Yes, this is normally a state and local responsibility. But the Federal level stepped in with the assistance needed, and did so within its standard timeline.

I'll further raise you the fact that Governor Blanco did not request federal troops to help with law and order until the 31st.

Now, Brock, are you going to argue that the federal response to Andrew compared favorably? You're gonna have to do better than the anecdotal evidence of someone who was probably well north of the most critical area. Hell, he probably lived near one of the STAGING areas for supporting Homestead.

Brock should probably just admit he's out of his league here, and go back to spinning stains on dresses.

See also Jack Kelly's response.

Splash, out

Jason

Comments:
This idiot!! The USS Comfort (hospital ship from Baltimore that he mentions) is a reserve ship. If it had been dispatched any earlier than when it was, it would have arrived without medical staff or medical supplies.

He also completely confuses response times with activities done in advance that get the response moving in the first place (another loud mouth with no understanding of logistics).

He cites one incidental account of a well-known Bush administration critic to back up his claim that the feds moved faster in 1992 - a guy who is giving the 1992 FEMA credit for the state response. The same fellow goes on to cite a woman blaming the federal government because she's too stupid to leave her split-in-two house because she seemingly thinks FEMA should have rebuilt her home for her by now.

Funny how he can find a timeline for the breaking of the levies now, when his publication, along with every other major media source, didn't hear about it any sooner than Tuesday at the time. Why do they expect the FEMA guys to have found it out any sooner if those reports weren't making it out of the city to anyone else?

The fact that New Orleans owns 700 school buses and not 2000 (which could conservatively lift 28,000 at a time)happens to justify (in this guy's mind) not evacuating anyone with them? And the fact that 20% of the school buses are 'broken down' isn't the mayor's fault either?

He ignores the fact that the guardsmen from other states need time to mobilize and move to the disaster area. Assuming he's correct (and I don't) that those from New Mexico were offered the day before the hurricane, it would still take 3-4 days to mobilize them and move them into the effected areas (again, no sense of logistics). It's not like the Guard in New Mexico sits around the armory waiting to react to the next huricane to hit them.
 
Let's add to that the Chief of Naval Operations comments:


We've been there since practically before the storm made landfall -- BATAAN chased it in weathering 12-14 foot seas and began flying SAR missions within hours of the storm's departure -- and we are still there making a difference.


http://www.indepundit.com/archive2/2005/09/a_message_from.html#
 
Arguing with liberals over facts is like carrying on a conversation with a pet mouse.

Homestead was flat after the storm, about 200,000 houses were damaged or destroyed by Andrew, the local roads were inpassable for weeks. The damage in the upper keys is still visible today.

I forget her name, but the TV scenes of the Miami-Dade EOC coordinator pleading for help days after the hurricane probably never happened in the libs world.

After all, Mr. Lewinsky was president.
 
Actually, George Herbert Walker Bush was president for Andrew, which happened in 1992. Clinton did not win the election until two months after the storm, and then took office in January 2003.

Jason
 
What's weird, or not, is that the media coverage and locals reactions were exactly the same after Andrew as they are with Katrina.

I saw a History Channel special on Andrew a week ago, blogged it, natch, and was stunned at how the media depicted the local citizenry as hostile to Bush I and how Bush I's administration was too slow to respond.

Just like now.

I guess hurricanes have always been bad politics for Republicans.
 
Jason, I think you might be off by 10 years (1993 vs 2003).

Best.
 
Pitts is an idiot. Thus, basing anything on anything Pitts has to say makes that person even more of an idiot.

I lived through Andrew in Miami. Homestead was completely unmanueverable after the hurricane. All trees were down, no roadsigns, no landmarks easily discrened. I have live in South dade my whole life and even a week after Andrew got lost as I travelled through areas that I knew.
 
Er, yeah. Clinton took office in 1993. That's it.

In other news, I'm going to stop huffing paint today.

Jason
 
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Because of intense competition in the credit card industry, credit providers often offer incentives such as frequent flier points, gift certificates, or cash back (typically up to 1 percent based on total purchases) to try to attract customers to their program.

Low interest credit cards or even 0% interest credit cards are available. The only downside to consumers is that the period of low interest credit cards is limited to a fixed term, usually between 6 and 12 months after which a higher rate is charged. However, services are available which alert credit card holders when their low interest period is due to expire. Most such services charge a monthly or annual fee. credit card's grace period is the time the customer has to pay the balance before interest is charged to the balance. Grace periods vary, but usually range from 20 to 30 days depending on the type of credit card and the issuing bank. Some policies allow for reinstatement after certain conditions are met. Usually, if a customer is late paying the balance, finance charges will be calculated and the grace period does not apply. Finance charge(s) incurred depends on the grace period and balance, with most credit cards there is no grace period if there's any outstanding balance from the previous billing cycle or statement (ie. interest is applied on both the previous balance and new transactions). However, there are some credit cards that will only apply finance charge on the previous or old balance, excluding new transactions.

For merchants, a credit card transaction is often more secure than other forms of payment, such as checks, because the issuing bank commits to pay the merchant the moment the transaction is authorized, regardless of whether the consumer defaults on their credit card payment (except for legitimate disputes, which are discussed below, and can result in charge backs to the merchant). In most cases, cards are even more secure than cash, because they discourage theft by the merchant's employees.

For each purchase, the bank charges a commission (discount fee), to the merchant for this service and there may be a certain delay before the agreed payment is received by the merchant. The commission is often a percentage of the transaction amount, plus a fixed fee. In addition, a merchant may be penalized or have their ability to receive payment using that credit card restricted if there are too many cancellations or reversals of charges as a result of disputes. Some small merchants require credit purchases to have a minimum amount (usually between $5 and $10) to compensate for the transaction costs, though this is not always allowed by the credit card consortium.

In some countries, like the Nordic countries, banks guarantee payment on stolen cards only if an ID card is checked and the ID card number/civic registration number is written down on the receipt together with the signature. In these countries merchants therefore usually ask for ID. Non-Nordic citizens, who are unlikely to possess a Nordic ID card or driving license, will instead have to show their passport, and the passport number will be written down on the receipt, sometimes together with other information. Some shops use the card's PIN code for identification, and in that case showing an ID card is not necessary.

Authorization: When the cardholders pays for the purchase, the merchant performs some risk assessment and may submit the transaction to the acquirer for authorization. The acquirer verifies with the issuer—almost instantly—that the card number and transaction amount are both valid, and informs the merchant on how to proceed. The issuer may provisionally debit the funds from the cardholder's credit account at this stage.
Batching: After the transaction is authorized it is then stored in a batch, which the merchant sends to the acquiring bank later to receive payment (usually at the end of the day).
Clearing and settlement: The acquiring bank sends the transactions in the batch through the card association, which debits the card-issuing bank for the transaction amount, and credits the acquirer for the transaction amount minus the interchange fee.
Funding: The acquiring bank pays the merchant. The amount the merchant receives is equal to the transaction amount minus the discount rate charged by the acquiring bank to the merchant for the service.
The entire process, from authorization to funding, usually takes about 2-7 business days. However, many merchant card processors offer next-day deposits to customers subject to type of banking account.

In the event of a chargeback (when there's an error in processing the transaction or the cardholder disputes the transaction), the issuer returns the transaction to the acquirer for resolution. The acquirer then forwards the chargeback to the merchant, who must either accept the chargeback or contest it.

Commodity money is any money that is both used as a general purpose medium of exchange and as a tradable commodity in its own right.

Commodity based currencies are often viewed as more stable, but this is not always the case. The value of a commodity based currency as a medium of exchange depends on its supply relative to other goods and services available in the economy. Historically, gold, silver and other metals commonly used in commodity based monetary systems have been subject to regular and sometimes extraordinary fluctuations in purchasing power. This not only damages its stability as a medium of exchange; it also reduces its effectiveness as a store of value. In the 1500s and 1600s huge quantities of gold and even larger amounts of silver were discovered in the New World and brought back to Europe for conversion into coin. As a result, the purchasing power of those coins fell by 60% to 80%, i.e. the prices of goods rose, because the supply of goods did not keep pace with the increased supply of money. In addition, the relative value of silver to gold shifted dramatically downward. Such discoveries of huge sources of gold or silver are a thing of the past, and lend to their supply stability. More recently, from 1980 to 2001, gold was a particularly poor store of value, as gold prices dropped from a high of $850/oz. ($27.30 /g) to a low of $255/oz. ($8.20 /g).It should be noted that gold was not a currency at this time, and was fluctuating due to its status as a final store of value — that is, the price never goes to zero as fiat currencies inevitably do. The advantage of gold and silver, however, lies in the fact that, unlike fiat paper currency, the supply cannot be increased arbitrarily by a central bank.

It is also possible for the trading value of a commodity money to be greater than its value as a medium of exchange when governments attempt to fix exchange rates between different commodity monies. When this happens people will often start melting down coins and reselling the metal used to make them. This has happened periodically in the United States, eventually causing it to move away from pure silver nickels and pure copper pennies. Shipping coins from one jurisdiction to another so that they could be reminted was sometimes a lucrative trade before the advent of trusted paper money.

Commodity money's ability to function as a store of value is also limited by its very nature. Copper and tin risk rust and corrosion. Gold and silver are soft metals that can lose weight through scratches and abrasions, but this is nothing by comparison to fiat currencies, where billions of dollars can be injected ("printed") into the market within moments.

Stability aside, commodity-based currencies may have a tendency to restrain growth in a very active economy. For example, in order to maintain the price level, the supply of money in an any economy must be equal or greater than the volume of goods and services produced. If commodities are used as money, then the total production can easily outstrip the supply of those commodities, which leads to price deflation. The lower prices of goods would signal to their producers to reduce the supply of goods, hence restoring the price level. As such, production within commodity-based economies tends to be limited by the supply of the commodity currency.[citation needed]

This problem is compounded by the fact that money also serves as a store of value. This encourages hoarding (in other circumstances known as "saving")and takes the commodity money out circulation, reducing the supply. The supply of circulating commodity currency is further reduced by the fact that commodity moneys also have competing non-monetary uses. For example, gold and silver are used in jewelry, and nickel and copper have important industrial uses.

Commodity based currencies also limit the geographic extent of the trading market. To make large purchases either a large volume or a high weight or both of the commodity must be transported to the seller. The cost of transportation of the currency raises the transaction cost and makes long distance sales less attractive

 
STOP FORECLOSURE WITH CALIFORNIALOANRATE.COM


CaliforniaLoanRate.com will work with you to develop a plan that best serves your particular needs. We will then negotiate with your lender to incorporate any changes that are needed to make the plan acceptable both to you and to your lender. Keeping you in your home is advantageous to the lender. Our job is to help them appreciate that advantage.
SHORT SALES MAY SELL YOU SHORT
You may have been told that a short sale is your only course of action.What you may not have been told is that you may be dealing with the consequences of that action for many years.
DEADLINE SENSITIVITY
We understand that you may be facing immediate deadlines and that any delay can mean a loss of meaningful options for relief.
TYPICAL RESTRUCTURING PLANS
Restructuring plans may include:
Adding delinquent payments and any foreclosure fees to the back end of the loan. This may include a permanent reduction in your interest rate.
Forbearance plans may be used to temporarily halt the foreclosure process for up to four years while you make payments to become current with the lender.
GOALS OF NEGOTIATION WITH YOUR LENDER
In our negotiations with your lender we are seeking to lower your payments, lower the interest rate, mitigate any negative impact on your credit rating, and keep your home from going into foreclosure. The lender benefits by continuing to receive payments on the mortgage, and saving on the costs that would be incurred in a foreclosure.
WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU
We will need to document your income and expenses for the last two years. Documentation will include pay stubs, tax returns, bank statements and property tax bills, and all of the paperwork associated with your mortgage. We will need copies of your bills to document your financial situation and the factors that led to your falling behind. Please provide any other letters or notices that demonstrate that you faced a reduction in your income or higher than expected expenses.
TELLING YOUR STORY
We will ask you to prepare a draft letter that explains in your own words what factors have led to your need for a modification from the lender. It is important that you author this letter, and that it is not generic. Please include the details that bring to life the financial difficulties that you have faced. If you feel that you were not properly and fully informed regarding the terms of your loan, please describe the process by which you came to sign the loan papers and what your understanding of the terms of your loan was at that time.



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