White House plans new housing push

Rolling Out TARP II
The Treasury Department has created a bit of a conundrum for Libertarians when it comes to the newly announced Jekyll and Hyde-like TARP II. On the one hand, the Government is finally reaching out to the Private Sector through this initiative, recognizing the power of Markets and price discovery as means to end the economic Crisis. But on the other hand, the Taxpayers are still taking up to 93 percent of the risk in this new venture. Thats hardly an equitable solution and it could end up...

New Orleans' Flood Defenses Upgraded
(NewsCore) - U.S. government and other engineers claim if Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans tomorrow, it would likely cause only light Flooding, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. A New ring of defenses costing nearly $15 Billion -- expected to be completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers next June -- will provide the Crescent City the best protection it has ever had from a storm, the Corps and other experts agree. The city's 350-mile (563-kilometer) flood-protection network is...

WSJ: Cleaning Up the Mortgage Mess
Obama's program to help Homeowners has unfortunately made things worse. The Wall Street Journal By Darrell Issa and Jim Jordan President Obama's signature effort to mitigate the nation's Foreclosure Crisis, the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), was established with the goal of providing Mortgage relief for three million to four million Homeowners facing Foreclosure in the wake of the Subprime Mortgage Crisis. Today, more than 18 months since Treasury rolled out the program, HAMP...

Graph o' the Day
Perhaps German banks did not need the $11.8 Billion of TARP funds received from U.S. Taxpayers? “Criticizing the structure of the U.S. Treasurys $700 Billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that was created to rescue the nations financial industry, the Congressional Oversight Panel said in a report on Thursday that the foreign companies got greater benefit from the U.S. Bailout program than U.S. companies realized from other countries’ Bailout programs. …Germanys...

Rep. Waters's lawyers cry foul on ethics probe
By Devlin Barrett Lawyers for California Rep. Maxine Waters are fighting an attempt by investigators to gather more evidence now that three formal Ethics charges have been filed against her. Waters, a Democrat, has been charged with improperly seeking government help in 2008 for a minority-owned bank in which her husband owned stock. The bank received $12 million in federal funds later that year from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Waters has denied wrongdoing. Waterss lawyers, ...

Obama to commemorate Katrina on 5th anniversary
V INEYARD HAVEN - President Barack Obama will use the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina to reaffirm his commitment to the Gulf Coast amid lingering questions over his Administration’s response to the BP Oil Spill. Obama ends his Martha’s Vineyard vacation Sunday and heads to New Orleans, five years to the day from when Hurricane Katrina raged ashore, busting through crumbling Levees and Flooding 80 percent of the city, killing more than 1,600 people. Then-President George W....

Helping New Orleans Rebuild Its Schools
Posted by Secretary Arne Duncan on August 28, 2010 at 02:00 PM EDT Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina destroyed schools throughout New Orleans. Since then, the state and city have worked together to make the city’s schools a model for school reform. New Orleans schools have made remarkable progress. They have been an inspiration to those of us who are working to provide a world-class Education to all of America’s Children. Despite the progress, New Orleans still has a lot of work...

New Orleans's Flood Defenses Get Upgrade, but Some Seek More
By MIKE ESTERL And ANN CARRNS New Orleans—If Hurricane Katrina hit this city tomorrow, it would likely cause only light Flooding, according to U.S. Government and other engineers. A New ring of defenses costing nearly $15 Billion—expected to be completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers next June—will provide the Crescent City the best protection it has ever had from a storm, the Corps and other experts agree. The city's 350-mile flood-protection network is being...

'Gulf Officials Hope Obama Speech Can Help Finish Katrina Repairs.' Really?
From The Hill : President Obama should use the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina to inject New energy into the unfinished task of repairing New Orleans, according to officials from the region. Obama will deliver a Speech here Sunday to mark five years to the day that Katrina made landfall, devastating the city and tarnishing the presidency of George W. Bush. Showcasing the progress in New Orleans under his administration could also help boost the president’s sagging Approval Ratings, and...

TV News 'Brooding About Katrina'
The NYTimes' Alessandra Stanley has been watching some of the coverage, so far, of the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. But the puffery on most anniversary specials is mild, perhaps because there is something humbling about Katrina that abashes even the most egotistical personalities. Anderson Cooper of CNN was one of the standouts of Katrina, whipped by lashing winds when the storm broke and lashing out at federal incompetence after it subsided. Soon after his return, CNN ousted its...

5 years later, La. residents look for healing after epic storm in symbolic Katrina burial
CHALMETTE, LA. — Hundreds of mourners dropped notes, cards and letters — many of them stained with tears — into a steel-gray casket on Saturday in a symbolic burial of Hurricane Katrina. One letter written by a child in red crayon said: "Go away from us." Another note remembered one of the 1,800 Victims of Katrina: "R.I.P. Gloria, I will always love you." The casket, along with some of the anger, grief and frustration, was later interred under an appropriately dark sky as...

Louisiana residents rid grief in symbolic Katrina burial a
C HALMETTE, La. — Hundreds of mourners dropped notes, cards and letters — many of them stained with tears — into a steel-gray casket on Saturday in a symbolic burial of Hurricane Katrina. One letter written by a child in red crayon said: "Go away from us." Another note remembered one of the 1,800 Victims of Katrina: "R.I.P. Gloria, I will always love you." The casket, along with some of the anger, grief and frustration, was later interred under an appropriately dark sky as...

Katrina Anniversary in New Orleans Brings Pride, Anguish and Anxiety About Future
As New Orleans observes the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina – "celebrates" is not the right word – a swirl of emotions has enveloped the city. There is a palpable sense of good fortune at simply being alive, tempered by unrequited grief and anger, remembrance of loss, flashbacks of post-traumatic stress, and anxiety that another big storm could yet strike this year. The pride about the significant progress of recovery clashes with anguish about all that still must be fixed....

Hurricane Katrina
"DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED." By the time the National Weather Service issued this ominous alert on the morning of Aug. 28, 2005, Hurricane Katrina had morphed from a relatively weak Category 1 Hurricane to a Category 5 tropical monster -- and was spiraling straight toward New Orleans. The city would be "uninhabitable for weeks ... perhaps longer," the weather Service warned. Half the houses would lose their roofs. Commercial buildings would be unusable, and apartment buildings would be...

Rachel Maddow Introduces Us To New Orleans' Deadly 'Mr. Go' Canal
Five years after Hurricane Katrina, the media is descending on New Orleans once again to follow the progress of the city’s rebuilding. Last night, Rachel Maddow reported from Louisiana on the closing of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (Mr. Go), a canal that was directly responsible for channeling water into New Orleans when Katrina hit. It was yet another sign that her point of the night was true: when man fights nature, nature always wins. “Mr. Go” has been eating away at...

Tech's role in post-Katrina recovery (podcast)
New Orleans, La.--Five years ago, following Hurricane Katrina and the resulting floods, much of New Orleans was underwater. But today it's a city in recovery. There are still many scars from the disaster, but there is also a feeling of rebirth. Technology has played a big role in its path to recovery in the realms of communications, disaster recovery, and now with economic development. The Louisiana Economic Development reports that "Louisiana's tech industry is among the Top 10 for...

For Obamas, a (mostly) uninterrupted vacation
Grim economic reports cast an inescapable shadow over the first family's stay in Martha's Vineyard, and tough tasks on Iraq and the Middle East await the president in Washington after a stop in New Orleans Sunday on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. But during his time on this lovely island, the president never once had to shed his leisure wear to step in front of the podium and address a national emergency or matter of state. So as the first family hit the beach under picture-perfect...

New Orleans: Five Years Later
In a series of moving portraits, photographer Mario Tama has documented the tragedy, reconstruction, and resurgent optimism of New Orleans in the five years since Hurricane Katrina. See some of the remarkable images in his New book, Coming Back: New Orleans Resurgent .

Feds probing post-Katrina 'shoot looters' claim
Source: Associated Press Federal authorities are investigating allegations that New Orleans Police were told after Hurricane Katrina to "take the city back and shoot the looters." Police spokesman Bob Young said Friday that federal officials have asked Police for information and for permission to interview officers about the alleged orders. The U.S. Attorney's office in New Orleans and FBI spokeswoman Sheila Thorne refused to comment on the investigation. (snip) "In response to the printed...

Remembering Hurricane Katrina 5 Years Later
When a Category 5 storm knocked out the levees guarding New Orleans Aug. 29, 2005, it created a Humanitarian Crisis on a scale that had never been seen in this country. Five years later, the Crescent City -- and many of its people -- still haven't recovered. Many people are still living in Hurricane Katrina's disaster. New Orleans neighborhoods still have many damaged and empty houses. "One, two, three, four, I think like five people on this block did not come back. And these were neighbors...

Katrina tosses coastal mayors into national spotlight
Long Beach, Miss. — About a month after Hurricane Katrina decimated the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Mayor Billy Skellie was driving back from a meeting with state officials in Biloxi when he realized something was wrong. "I got lost," he said. "I passed up Long Beach ." So extensive was the destruction from the Hurricane five years ago, the mayor — a lifetime resident — drove right by it. Before Katrina, Skellie's big concerns had included trying to figure out where to locate...

The First Thing You Notice About New Orleans Is The Water
My first introduction to New Orleans was from the air, flying high over the city with a view of the land - and water - below. Couldnt help but feel a little like George Bush . I had just seen Harry Shearer s Documentary, The Big Uneasy , part of which was a discussion about engineering failures in the city, way before Katrina, relating to how it handled all its water - holding water back instead of finding ways to bring it through the city in controlled ways via...

Daily Fix Poll: What's to blame for Lisa Murkowski's apparent loss?
By Aaron Blake Theories abound as to why Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) appears to have gone down to defeat in Tuesday's primary. The predominant one, of course, is that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin 's (R) Endorsement still carries plenty of weight among the GOP base in her home state, and that it delivered for attorney Joe Miller on Election Day. Both Murkowski and Miller cited Palin's backing when asked about Tuesday's results. But, as discussed in today's Morning Fix , there were...

Obama, rest of first family, travel to private beach as Martha's Vineyard vacation nears end
EDGARTOWN, MASS. — The First family is spending time at the beach. President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and their daughters, Sasha and Malia, on Saturday spent part of their final full day on Martha's Vineyard at a private beach. The family motorcaded from their rented farm compound for about 10 minutes, before turning into a private area not far from the beach they visited a week earlier. The New area looks out on Jobs Neck Pond, Edgartown Great Pond and, beyond that, the...

Enviro Links: EPA Admin on NOLA, Another BP Exec Pleads the Fifth, and More
Today in Environmental News: EPA administrator Lisa Jackson reflects on the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the rebirth of her hometown of Pontchartrain Park: The Homeowners and families in Pontchartrain Park were among the first African-Americans to buy their own homes in the New Orleans suburbs. Despite the racial inequality of the time, they shared a belief that the nation's opportunity should be equal for everyone. In 2010, Pontchartrain Park is being reborn, re-emerging...