Just a Bit Odd. . .

I am a firm believer in the people.

If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis.
The great point is to bring them the real facts

--Abraham Lincoln

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August's Real Estate Forum leads with news on terrorism insurance.

The Editor's Page feature touts "welcome news" in the first days of August as the House Financial Services Committee, chaired by Barney Frank (D-MA), approved a 15-year extension of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, originally a three-year temporary program instituted in 2002 and extended once in 2005.

It will require insurers to offer "nuclear, biological, chemical and radioactive coverage by January 2009, and eliminat(e) the program's current distinction between foreign and domestic acts of terrorism."

"Real estate futurist" Christopher Lee (could it be any more apropos?) says terrorism will stick around for at least another 20 years. (I didn't know it had a shelf-life.) "By 2030, there will be at least five to 10 more 9-11-type attacks, he predicted."

The insurance will kick in at the $50 million trigger mark. I take it the insurance companies providing these big ticket policies won't be viewing these anticipated Islamic fundamentalist attacks as "acts of God."

It is all in keeping with insane rules that offer continued insurance to people (the wealthy) who choose to live on sandbars (="barrier islands") and other coastal areas.

Meanwhile, those living in FEMA trailers in New Orleans got the unfortunate news that cancer-causing levels of formaldehyde exist in their living structures (FEMA Knew of Toxic Gas in Trailers.) FEMA found it prudent to suppress this information for over a year. Meanwhile people were becoming ill from exposure to these unhealthy levels of a carcinogen, levels for which governmental safety protocol requires breathing masks.

"According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), workers should use respirators if they have to spend most of their working day in formaldehyde levels above 0.016 parts per million - the inspected trailer had a level of 1.2 parts per million, seventy-five times higher" (FEMA Slow to Investigate Formaldehyde Levels.)

The solution: keep your doors and windows open. No duct taping. I wonder if that is part of the recommendations in the insurance package given to the multi-million dollar home sandbar dwellers.

One thing is certain: any health damages suffered by FEMA trailer dwelling down-and-outers will not be covered by terrorism insurance, even though they have suffered a form of state-sponsored terrorism. But they don't really matter anyway, as they are trailer trash.

Wouldn't want to cause a market panic.

--Jim and Lisa

Walkin' to New Orleans

I'm walkin' to New Orleans
I'm going to need two pair of shoes
When I get through walkin' to you
When I get back to New Orleans
--Walkin' To New Orleans, Fats Domino
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Do you know what it's like to walk, and not ride? Lots of folks who used to live in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans do. Maybe because of that softer footprint on the planet they drew less attention from the powers that be, and literally got swept away.

''Fifty-nine years ago this week — on April 3, 1948 — President Truman signed the legislation establishing the Marshall Plan, which contributed so much to the rebuilding of postwar Europe. Now, more than half a century later, the U.S. can’t even rebuild New Orleans.''

So wrote the New York Times' Bob Herbert recently in ''Our Crumbling Foundations'' on the New Orleans tragedy, and by extension what this failure signifies for America's infrastructure, in general. Ranger has just addressed the misapplication of one of our foundation documents and our concomitant crumbling ideological foundations; we will now lift and shift fire to our crumbling material foundations.

Why are U.S. priorities not behind a rebuild effort in New Orleans? Simply put, GWB's priorities in Iraq and Afghanistan are more important than the welfare of U.S. cities. And certainly, the land grabbers wouldn't stand to profit if these decrepit properties were repatriated to their original owners.

''Drawn Together'' in the May 2007 Reader's Digest gives a personal dimension to the travesty. It is the story of a boy, Donald, from the Ninth whose mother was killed the night of the storm, and a dedicated art program volunteer named Ashley who, taken by his drawing talent, worked to find a home placement for him.

Through selfless work on her own time she locates an aunt who too has also lost everything in the storm and is struggling to provide for her two children, but wishes to take Donald in. The challenges to helping Donald return to a normal life would be comical, were they not tragic:

''Donald's most basic necessities--medical care and food--seem unobtainable. The government denies all applications for food stamps and Social Security benefits, citing no proof Donald's mother is dead.''

''For the same reason, Donald's aunt is not allowed to become his legal guardian. Yet he is not old enough to have a voice for himself...''

It is only the middle of last year, after 6 months of tireless advocacy, that Ashley was able to get Lt. Gov. Landrieu to secure the services of a pro bono counsel to arrange for his aunt to become his legal guardian. This has allowing him to receive medical care, including antidepressants.

Donald's story will hopefully turn out well, but it if it does, it will only be because of his chance advocate's unceasing efforts on his behalf. But what of the innumerable other Donalds out there, our country's abandoned children?

GWB was elected to be President of the U.S., yet his nation-building zeal does not seem to extend to the homeland.

It would be interesting to see if John McCain could walk through non-tourist sections of New Orleans without security these days.

by Lisa