Bushonomics: Teaching the Iraqi's How to Spend Money

24 October 2008

This one of those note worthy articles that is a bit interesting to the mind, apparently the Iraqi government has a little spending money and who would like to help them learn to spend, spend, spend; none other then the spend capital of the world, the United States.

After all the US has spent so much, there country is in full economic collapse, many of there people are subjected to abject poverty or just plain starving and to make matters worse the homeless population is becoming absolutely staggering between Hurricanes’ and home foreclosures, to let us not forget; the ever increasing high unemployment which continues to grow at leap and bounds.

So back to the beginning, who better to teach any one to spend; the United States.

Everybody need’s another country in full economic panic, let alone Iraq with foreign occupation and continuing genocide?

In food crisis, Cuba limits sales so all can eat

Chives for sale are seen at a public market in Havana, Thursday, 9 October 2008. Cuba is limiting how much basic fruits and vegetables citizens can buy at farmers' markets after two hurricanes wiped out more than 30 percent of the island's crops last month.

10 October 2008
By ANNE-MARIE GARCIA

HAVANA -Cuba is limiting how much basic fruits and vegetables people can buy at farmers' markets, irritating some customers but ensuring there's enough — barely — to go around.

The lines are long and some foods are scarce, but because the government has maintained and even increased rations in some areas, Cubans who initially worried about getting enough to eat now seem confident they won't go hungry despite the destruction of 30 percent of the island's crops by hurricanes Gustav and Ike last month.

"Of the little there is, there is some for everyone," 65-year-old Mercedes Grimau said as queued up behind more than 50 people to buy lettuce, limited to two pounds per person.

"I'm not afraid that I will be left without food, but it's a pain to think about all the work we are going to have to go through," Grimau added. "Two or three months ago the farmers markets were well-stocked."

Cuba's government regularly stockpiles beans and other basics, and Economics Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez said authorities are ready to increase the $2 billion they already spend on food imports annually. The world credit crisis won't affect much of those imports because U.S. law forces communist Cuba to use cash to purchase American farm goods. But imports from other countries bought with credit could become more difficult or expensive.

The government is delivering all items distributed each month on the universal ration that provides Cubans with up to two weeks of food — including eggs, beans, rice and potatoes — at very low cost. In some hard-hit provinces, extra food has been added.

But the rest of the food Cubans supplement their diets with at supply-and-demand farmers markets and government produce stands has dwindled, prompting the government to limit consumer purchases and cap prices on items including rice, beans, root crops and fresh greens.

Rodriguez has sought to dispel speculation about a replay of the desperate early 1990s, when shelves were bare and people survived for weeks on one small meal daily. Cubans who lived through deprivation after the Soviet Union's collapse say the current food situation doesn't come close.

"It is true that it will take us some time to bring the agricultural production up to the levels that existed before the hurricanes," Rodriguez told state television this week. "Nevertheless, there is no reason to speculate or assume that there will be any hunger."

Although Cuba's relative financial isolation partially protects it from the jolts of the world economy, an extended credit crisis could stunt the island's foreign currency income if Cubans living abroad lose jobs and stop sending family remittances, or if potential tourists can no longer afford to travel.

But now, Cuba's top challenge is to increase local production of fruits and vegetables sold at the farmers' markets.

Waiting at one market on a recent morning, 55-year-old homemaker Regla Suazo said, "At least with the measures I know I can buy something." Shortly thereafter, the first truck of the day pulled up with green beans, green onions, guavas, avocados, corn, squash, cassava root and sweet potatoes.

But quantities were much smaller than usual. Vendor Nadia Gomez, who received nothing that day, said police checkpoints leading into Havana now turn away trucks unauthorized to market produce in the capital or have been ordered send their goods to harder-hit areas.

Cuban agricultural officials expect six months of food shortages, and are increasing short-cycle crops such as salad greens and taking other measures to ensure everyone gets enough to eat.

At Cuatro Caminos farmers market, among Havana's largest and most varied, vendor Juan Carlos Martinez lamented he had only papayas, guavas and pineapples to sell. "This isn't the business it used to be," he said.

Bushonomics: Weak economy pushes jobless claims to 7-year high

The unemployed singing the blues, Bushonomics at work.

2 October 2008

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER

WASHINGTON -New applications for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week to a seven-year high due to a weakening economy and the impact of Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The department reported that initial claims for jobless benefits increased by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 497,000. That's significantly above analysts' estimate of 475,000. The total is the highest since just after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks seven years ago.

U.S. stock futures declined on the report. Dow Jones industrial average futures dropped 102 to the 10,785 level, pointing to a lower opening for shares.

The hurricanes, which hit Texas and Louisiana earlier this month, added about 45,000 claims from the two states for the week ending Sept. 27, the department said.

The hurricanes have led to higher claims for several weeks. As a result, the four-week average of claims, which smooths out fluctuations, jumped to 474,000, up 11,500 from the previous week.

In the week ending Sept. 20, Texas reported a 22,235 jump in claims, while Louisiana said claims rose by 9,671.

The number of people continuing to receive benefits increased to 3.59 million, up 48,000 and higher than analysts' estimates. That's the highest total in five years.

Jobless claims are at elevated levels even excluding the hurricanes. Weekly claims have now topped 400,000 for 11 straight weeks, a level economists consider a sign of recession. A year ago, claims stood at 324,000.

The economy is struggling with the financial crisis and slowing consumer spending, leading to increased layoffs by the nation's employers.

Economists expect a separate Labor Department report Friday on payrolls to reflect further weakness in the labor market. They predict the report will show that the nation's employers cut 100,000 jobs last month. That's on top of 605,000 jobs that were eliminated in the first eight months of this year.

The report is expected to show that the jobless rate remains at 6.1 percent. The rate jumped above 6 percent for the first time in five years in August.

The financial crisis will likely cause greater job cuts in the coming months. Several large, troubled banks have been bought by competitors and layoffs are likely.

Citigroup Inc. on Monday purchased Wachovia Corp., which had about 120,000 employees. JPMorgan Chase & Co. last week bought Seattle-based Washington Mutual, which employed roughly 43,000.

Several companies have announced layoffs in the past week, including aluminum company Alcoa Inc., auto retailer CarMax, Inc. and chicken producer Pilgrim's Pride Corp.

US: Jobless claims pushed to 7-year high

25 September 2008

WASHINGTON -New claims for unemployment benefits jumped last week to their highest level in seven years due to the impact of a slowing economy and Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The department said new requests for jobless benefits for the week ending Sept. 20 increased by 32,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 493,000, much higher than analysts' expectations of 445,000.

Wall Street was more focused on Washington, though, where lawmakers and the administration appeared to be moving closer to a $700 billion bailout package for the financial system. Stocks were headed for a moderately higher open.

The two hurricanes added about 50,000 new claims in Louisiana and Texas, the department said. The four-week moving average, which smooths out fluctuations, rose to 462,500.

Even excluding the effects of the hurricanes, jobless claims remain at elevated levels. Weekly claims have now topped 400,000 for ten straight weeks, a level economists consider a sign of recession. A year ago, claims stood at 309,000.

The number of people continuing to draw jobless benefits last week was 3.54 million, up 63,000 from the previous week and nearly a five-year high. The four-week average of continuing claims was 3.49 million.

Hurricane Gustav first had an impact on jobless claims for the week ending Sept. 13. The department said Thursday that Louisiana reported an increase in claims of 18,409 during that week, mostly due to Gustav.

The financial crisis, falling home prices and slowing consumer spending continue to apply the brakes to the U.S. economy. The unemployment rate jumped unexpectedly to 6.1 percent in August, the highest level in five years.

Last week, drug maker Schering-Plough Corp. said it plans to cut 1,000 sales jobs to reduce costs, part of a 10 percent reduction in staff announced in April. Also, the nation's largest chicken producer, Pilgrim's Pride Corp., announced it would reduce 100 jobs besides the 600 job losses it previously announced.

Ghana President Visit to White House

U.S. President George W. Bush and Ghana President John Agyekum Kufuor tip their glasses in a toast during a White House State Dinner, on 15 September 2008.

What is lacking in this latest deception is that Ghana President John Kufuor doesn’t drink, while U.S. President George W. Bush drink’s like a fish deprived of water.

As to Kufuor's involvement with Bush, is they are collaborators and in doing this the country of Ghana is forcing the retirement of President Kufuor; due to the countries dislike for Bush and his foreign policies towards there country.

In other news, Bush talk’s about helping the survivors of Hurricane Ike, while the people in Louisiana and Texas or suffering just like their predecessors that suffered from natural disaster’s; to the idea of American’s and other’s more helping each other, without Bush in sight.

Aboard Marine One, US President George W. Bush flies over the devastation left along the Texas coast in the wake of Hurricane Ike, on 16 September 2008. Bush also spoke to reporters, inside a U.S. Coast Guard hangar at Ellington Field in Houston, Texas. (Updated)

Bush has always taken more of a back seat or out of sight approach to the needs of the American people, to his complementary fly by approach after the disasters.

If one expects Bush to actually do something, do not hold one’s breath; for one’s face will most assuredly turn blue due to deficiency of oxygen.

Dog makes emergency call for owner

14 September 2008

By AMANDA LEE MYERS

Man's best friend" doesn't go far enough for Buddy - a German shepherd who remembered his training and saved his owner's life by calling the emergency dispatcher when the man had a seizure.

And it's not the first time Buddy has been there for owner Joe Stalnaker, a police officer said Sunday.

On a recording of the call to the 911 emergency number Wednesday, Buddy is heard whimpering and barking after the dispatcher answers and repeatedly asks if the caller needs help.

"Hello, this is 911. Hello ... Can you hear me? Is there somebody there you can give the phone to," says the dispatcher, Chris Trott.

Police were sent to Stalnaker's home, and after about three minutes Buddy is heard barking loudly when the officers arrived.

Scottsdale police Sergeant Mark Clark said Stalnaker spent two days in a hospital and recovered from the seizure.

"It's pretty incredible," Clark said. "Even the veteran dispatchers - they haven't heard of anything like this."

Clark said police are dispatched whenever 911 is called, but that Stalnaker's address was flagged in Scottsdale's system with a notification that a trained assistance dog could call 911 when the owner was incapacitated.

Clark said Stalnaker adopted Buddy at the age of eight weeks from Michigan-based Paws with a Cause, which trains assistance dogs, and trained him to get the phone if he began to have seizure symptoms. Buddy, now 18 months old, is able to press programmed buttons until a 911 operator is on the line, Clark said.

Clark said Buddy has made two other 911 calls when Stalnaker was having seizures.

He said Stalnaker's seizures are the result of a head injury he suffered about 10 years ago during a military training exercise.

Stalnaker was not listed in the phone book, and he did not immediately respond to a request through police for an interview.

Note:
I know from personal experience, that certain dog’s because I do not know if all dog’s have this ability that they are not just useful for helping the blind, which is usually thought of; but for helping people with numerous medical conditions, especially the disabled and in Islam would be classified as a work dog.

Other Reading:
The Humane Society of the United States Expands Response to Hurricane Ike

U.S. Gas Gouging

Gas prices in some parts of the country have seen giant spikes as to the alleged claim that some owners are trying to profit off Hurricane Ike and fears of gas shortages.

by HRM Deborah

Whether it is U.S. President George W. Bush initiating a nationwide blackout or gouging the American people, it is still a crime and what makes matter‘s worse is Bush blaming other‘s for the many unacceptable moves he does behind people‘s backs.

When Hurricane Katrina occurred and gasoline shot-up over $3 dollars a gallon that was a disgrace, but after Hurricane Ike, catapulting gasoline well over $4 dollars a gallon it is just plain price gouging; as well as hampering the well-being of the all ready money-strapped American’s in a crumbling economy.

Nevertheless, with the U.S. still in flux with the numerous American’s that recently survived two hurricane’s of Gustav and Ike, something of this nature will more and likely put more injury; with further fears of displacement due to the lack of fuel with the hopes of returning home now and in the future. It also comes to mind of the many personal, needing fuel for the repair and rescue operations.

Finally, anyone doing such as these types of things or any harm to people, must have a very black heart; for their lack of compassion towards the well-being or caring of other’s. For no one should walk barefoot through human suffering.

New phase of disaster plagues Ike's survivors

Texas shelters grow crowded after nearly 2,000 rescued; death toll at 28

U.S. Air Force Pararescueman Staff Sgt. Lopaka Mounts, assigned to the 331st Air Expeditionary Group, receives a hug from a resident during search and rescue operations after Hurricane Ike in Galveston, Texas September 13, 2008. (Picture released: September 14, 2008.)

15 September 2008

GALVESTON, Texas - As teams continued the biggest search and rescue operation in Texas history, a new phase of the disaster wrought by Hurricane Ike was only beginning as thousands of people faced long stays in crowded shelters because their homes were damaged or destroyed.

The death toll from Ike rose to 28, but many of those were far to the north of the Gulf Coast as the storm slogged across the nation's midsection, leaving a trail of flooding and destruction. Glass-strewn Houston was placed under a weeklong curfew, and millions of people in the storm's path remained in the dark.

Rescuers said they had saved nearly 2,000 people from waterlogged streets and splintered houses by Sunday afternoon. Many had ignored evacuation orders and tried to ride out the storm. Now they were boarding buses for indefinite stays at shelters in San Antonio and Austin.

"I have nowhere to go," said Ldyyan Jonjocque, 61, waiting for a bus while holding the leashes of her four Australian shepherd dogs. She said she had to leave two dogs behind in her home. She wept as she told of officers rescuing her in a dump truck.

In hard-hit towns like Orange, Bridge City and Galveston, authorities continued their door-to-door search well into the night, hoping to reach an untold number of people still in their homes, many without power or supplies.

Many of those who did make it to safety boarded buses without knowing where they were going or when they could return to what might remain of their homes.

Shelters across Texas scurried to find enough cots, and some evacuees arrived with little cash and no idea of what the coming days held.

Unlivable
Even for those who still have a home to go to, Ike's 110 mph winds and battering waves left thousands in coastal areas without electricity, gas and basic communications — and officials estimated it may not be restored for a month.

"We want our citizens to stay where they are," said a weary Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas. "Do not come back to Galveston. You cannot live here at this time."

Michael Geml has braved other storms in his bayfront neighborhood in Galveston, where he's lived for 25 years, though none quite like Ike. The 51-year-old stayed in the third-story Jacuzzi of a neighbor's house, directly on the bay, with family pets as waves crashed across the landscape. But amid the havoc, Geml asked anyone who would listen — even his rescuers — for an odd commodity: cat litter for his spooked feline.

"I'll never stay again," Geml said. "I don't care what the weatherman says — a Category 1, a Category 2. I thought I was going to die."

Kathi and Paul Norton huddled inside their house in Crystal Beach until it collapsed and was swept away. Their flag pole kept the house from collapsing on top of them, buying them a few seconds to escape, holding onto the staircase.

"You never know what a hurricane is like until you ride it on a staircase," said Kathi Norton, 47. As she spoke outside the giant, warehouse-like shelter on a former Air Force base in San Antonio, busloads of new evacuees were arriving, bumper to bumper.

The hurricane also battered the heart of the U.S. oil industry as Ike destroyed at least 10 production platforms, officials said. Details about the size and production capacity of the destroyed platforms were not immediately available, but the damage was to only a fraction of the 3,800 platforms in the Gulf.

It was too soon to know how seriously it would affect oil and gas prices.

President Bush made plans to visit the area on Tuesday.

He said getting power restored is an extremely high priority and urged power companies to "please recruit out-of-state people to come and help you do this."

Storm's effects felt in Chicago, elsewhere
Ike was downgraded to a tropical depression as it moved north. Roads were closed in Kentucky because of high winds. As far north as Chicago, dozens of people in a suburb had to be evacuated by boat. Two million people were without power in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana.

Of the 28 dead, five were in the hard-hit barrier island city of Galveston, including one body found in a vehicle submerged in floodwater at the airport. There were two other deaths in Texas and four in Louisiana, including a 16-year-old boy trapped in rising floodwaters. Several were farther inland.

Two golfers died when a tree fell on them in Tennessee. There were two deaths in Indiana; three died in Missouri. One person died in Arkansas and three in Ohio, including two motorcyclists killed when a tree toppled on them at a state park.

Ike killed more than 80 in the Caribbean before reaching the United States.

Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city, was reduced to near-paralysis in some places. But power was on in downtown office towers Sunday afternoon, and Texas Medical Center, the world's largest medical complex, was unscathed and remained open. Both places have underground power lines.

Its two airports — including George Bush Intercontinental, one of the busiest in the United States — were set to reopen Monday with limited service. But schools were closed until further notice, and the business district was shuttered.

Five people were arrested at a pawn shop north of Houston and charged with burglary in what Harris County Sheriff's spokesman Capt. John Martin described as looting, but there was no widespread spike in crime.

This photo released by the U.S. Air Force shows a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter conducting search and rescue operations in Galveston, Texas, Saturday September 13, 2008, following the landfall of Hurricane Ike.

Nearly 2,000 rescued
Authorities said Sunday afternoon that 1,984 people had been rescued, including 394 by air. Besides people literally plucked to safety, that figure includes people met by crews as they waded through floodwaters trying to find dry ground.

Still others chose to remain in their homes along the Texas coast even after the danger of the storm had passed. There was no immediate count Sunday of how many people remained in their homes, or how many were in danger. The Red Cross reported 42,000 people were at state and Red Cross shelters Saturday night.

The search-and-rescue effort included more than 50 helicopters, and 1,500 searchers and teams from federal, state and local agencies.

From the city of Orange alone, near the Louisiana line, more than 700 people sought dry ground — "a Herculean effort to organize a reverse evacuation that nobody had ever planned for," Mayor Brown Claybar said.

Rescue crews vowed to continue the search until they had knocked on every door. They were helped by receding floodwaters, but there were constant surprises as people rowed and sloshed through towns.

'Peeling away your skin'
The storm also took a toll in Louisiana, where hundreds of homes were flooded and power outages worsened as the state struggles to recover from Hurricane Gustav, which struck over Labor Day.

In Hackberry, La., about 15 miles from the coast, workers moved a large shrimp boat out of the highway with a bulldozer, but the team had to stop because of strong currents in the floodwaters and difficulty in seeing the roadway.

Thayne Culbertson, a disabled veteran and commercial fisherman, rode out the storm at a friend's apartment in Galveston. As someone who has been through several hurricanes, he decided to stay behind for Ike in case he could help.

Instead, help had to find him. He was picked up by a helicopter after a toppled utility pole battered the building and windows were blown out. He later boarded a bus to San Antonio.

During the storm, he said, "the sand felt like it was peeling away your skin."

"Being a survivor of three hurricanes‘, which included Katrina, Rita and Gustav; my thoughts, and heart goes out to the people that went through Hurricane Ike. While I do understand the weight of this recent occurrence and why Allah (God) did this; it still makes for much sadness."-HRM Deborah

Rescue Crews Wait for Ike to Pass to Find Victims

13 September 2008

By JUAN A. LOZANO and CHRIS DUNCAN

Howling ashore with 110 mph winds, Hurricane Ike ravaged the Texas coast Saturday, flooding thousands of homes and businesses, shattering windows in Houston's skyscrapers and knocking out power to millions of people.

With roads still unpassable, it was unclear how many may have perished, and authorities mobilized for a huge search-and-rescue operation to reach the more than 100,000 people who ignored warnings that attempting to ride the storm out could bring "certain death." Crews were waiting for the storm to pass to make rescues.

"The unfortunate truth is we're going to have to go in ... and put our people in the tough situation to save people who did not choose wisely. We'll probably do the largest search-and-rescue operation that's ever been conducted in the state of Texas," said Andrew Barlow, spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry.

The storm's first fatality was a woman in a neighborhood north of Houston who was killed when a tree fell on her home as she slept, authorities said.

With the winds still blowing and rain still falling in sheets, authorities in some places could not venture outside to get a full look at the damage, but they were encouraged that the storm surge topped out at only 13.5 feet — far lower than the catastrophic 20-to-25-foot wall of water forecasters had feared.

Ike passed over Houston before dawn, blowing out windows in the state's tallest building, the 75-story Chase Tower. Behind splintered shards, desks were exposed to the pounding morning rains, metal blinds hung in a twisted heap from some windows, and smoky black glass covered the streets below.

Documents, marked "highly confidential," were strewn across nearly empty streets.

Glass and other debris litter streets in downtown Houston after Hurricane Ike passed through Saturday, 13 September 2008.

"It sounded like ice or something hitting the window but really it was glass," said Santa Montelongo, 53, who took refuge inside her office at a nearby building. "We could see it fly by. It got really spooky."

Yellow police tape cordoned off the street leading to Chase Tower. Black glass enshrouded red brick sidewalks. Trees were blown from their roots onto the streets. A street light lay near one curb, a smashed computer and pink insulation near another.

Shortly before noon, Houston police cars prowled downtown, ordering citizens off the streets over bullhorns: "Please clear the area! Go home!" Chunks of glass were still plunging from Chase Tower, threatening to injure nearby gawkers.

The storm, nearly as big as Texas itself, blasted a 500-mile stretch of coastline in Louisiana and Texas. It breached levees, flooded roads and led more than 1 million people to evacuate and seek shelter inland.

"Every storm's unique, but this one certainly will be remembered for its size," said Benton McGee, supervisory hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey's storm surge center in Ruston, La.

Of greatest concern were the more than 100,000 people in coastal counties who ignored mandatory evacuation orders, including thousands of residents of Galveston, the low-lying barrier island where Ike crashed ashore at 3:10 a.m. EDT.

South of Galveston, authorities said 67-year-old Ray Wilkinson was the only residents who didn't evacuate from Surfside Beach, population 800. He was drunk and waving when authorities reached him on Saturday morning.

"He kinda drank his way through the night," Mayor Larry Davison said.

Some homes were destroyed, but the storm was not as bad for Surfside Beach as Davison had feared. "But it's pretty bad," he said. "It'll take six months to clean it up."

Farther up the coast, much of Bridge City and downtown Orange were under up to 8 feet of water and rescue teams in dump trucks were plowing through in an effort to reach families trapped on roofs and inside attics.

"We've got to try and do something," said Orange County Judge Carl Thibodeaux.

In Louisiana, Ike's storm surge inundated thousands of homes and businesses. In Plaquemines Parish, near New Orleans, a sheriff's spokesman said levees were overtopped and floodwaters were higher than either hurricane Katrina or Rita.

"The storm surge we're experiencing, on both sides of the Mississippi River, is higher than anything we've seen before," Marie said.

Officials in Houston and along the coast reported receiving thousands of distress calls overnight but they were unable to respond because of the dangerous hurricane conditions. Emergency responders were fanning out Saturday morning from the Reliant Center in Houston to take stock of the damage and rescue any holdouts who needed help.

Matt Wells, left, and his brother, Mark, clear debris from Highway 146 as they try to cross a causeway with their truck after Hurricane Ike passed through Clear Lake Shores, Texas, on 13 September 2008.

"This is a democracy," said Mark Miner, a spokesman for Perry. "Local officials who can order evacuations put out very strong messages. Gov. Perry put out a very strong warning. But you can't force people to leave their homes. They made a decision to ride out the storm. Our prayers are with them."

Ike landed near the nation's biggest complex of refineries and petrochemical plants. Fears of shortages pushed wholesale gasoline prices to around $4.85 a gallon, up from $3 earlier in the week, and at least eight refineries were shut down. But it was too soon to know how they fared.

Fires burned untended across Galveston and Houston. Brennan's, a landmark downtown Houston restaurant, was destroyed by flames when firefighters were thwarted by high winds. Fire officials said a restaurant worker and his young daughter were taken to a hospital in critical condition with burns over 70 percent of their bodies.

Mindful of the deadly chaos that ensued in 2005 when the nation's fourth-largest city emptied out ahead of Hurricane Rita, Houston officials evacuated only the lowest-lying areas and told some 2 million others to "hunker down" and ride out the storm at home. Ike was the first hurricane since Alicia in 1983 to land a direct hit on Houston.

"From the beginning, we knew this was going to be a big storm, a frightening situation," said County Judge Ed Emmett, who urged residents to stay inside, even if they think the storm has passed. "Those of us who were around 25 years ago when Alicia came through, we know what it's like to listen to those winds and that rain. But from where we now stand, as the storm goes through and clears our area, we are going to see our community at its very best."

As Ike moved north later Saturday morning, the storm dropped to a Category 1 hurricane with winds of around 80 mph. At 11 a.m. EDT, the center was about 20 miles north-northeast of Huntsville, Texas, and moving north at 16 mph. It was expected to turn toward Arkansas later in the day and become a tropical storm.

More than 3 million customers lost power in southeast Texas, and some 140,000 more in Louisiana. That's in addition to the 60,000 still without power from Labor Day's Hurricane Gustav. Suppliers warned it could be weeks before all service was restored.

But there was good news: A stranded freighter with 22 men aboard made it through the brunt of the storm safely, and a tugboat was on the way to save them. And an evacuee from Calhoun County gave birth to a baby girl in the restroom of a shelter with the aid of an expert in geriatric psychiatry who delivered his first baby in two decades.

Update:
Ike wears itself out beating up on Texas
Crews fan out in Texas to search for Ike victims
(At least 3 million people are without power; storm blamed for 2 deaths)



Texas resident: 'We will rebuild'
Many Texas residents are learning that their homes have been completely destroyed.

Gustav Swells Unemployment

25,000 workers so far file for state benefits

12 September 2008

by Ed Anderson

BATON ROUGE - More than 25,000 workers who have become unemployed since Hurricane Gustav have filed for unemployment benefits, 10 times more than the average weekly rate, state labor officials said Thursday.

Tim Barfield, executive director of the Louisiana Workforce Commission, said that as of noon Thursday, 25,026 people have filed unemployment claims since Gustav's landfall last week. More claims are expected, he said, but he could not venture a guess of how many or the amount of benefits to be paid.

"There are a significant number of claims still out there," Barfield said.

By comparison, there were about 350,000 claims filed in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

Barfield also said benefits paid to those who qualified before Gustav will be paid by Friday. A loss of power by the department's main office for more than a week caused benefits to be delayed, some as many as 10 days. Barfield said he expects $8.3 million to be paid to almost 30,000 recipients by Friday.

"This will catch us up," he said. "We did not anticipate being out of power as long as we have been."

Barfield said not all of the 25,000 applicants after Gustav will qualify.

To file an application for benefits, a jobless worker can go online at www.laworks.net or call one of two toll-free numbers: 1.800.957.1605 or 1.866.259.6345.

The maximum benefit is $258 a week for 26 weeks. "It is difficult to estimate what that payout will be," Barfield said.

He said the deadline for most unemployed workers affected by Gustav to file is Oct. 6.

There are about 25,000 people who draw unemployment benefits each week, Barfield said.

He said more than 230 contract and full-time employees have been hired to field calls or answer complaints. For problems or non-claim questions, the agency has a third toll free-number, 1.866.783.5567.

On another Gustav-related matter, state National Guard officials said activities at the food distribution centers are starting to wind down. On Thursday, Gov. Bobby Jindal said 15 centers were still open, handing out provisions like ready-to-eat meals, ice, bottled water and tarps. Jindal said the number of centers peaked at 50.

Denise Everhart, a spokeswoman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said that as of Thursday, the agency has supplied 444,225 tarps, 920,000 pounds of ice, 16.9 million bottles of water and 8.74 million ready-to-eat meals.

Jindal had complained earlier that FEMA was slow in supplying the meals and tarps at the centers but has improved.

Note:
While I do not know about other area’s of Louisiana, but in the New Orleans and vicinity you will find much sadness as well as human suffering; even with the mild fear of some of the sudden storms and wind that many hope is not a forerunner to more extreme weather conditions.

In some of the low lying area’s that was flooded during Hurricane Gustav, is not just flooding again, but other’s are threatened with flooding due to Hurricane Ike.

Traffic lines Interstate 45 leaving Houston as Hurricane Ike approaches the Texas Gulf Coast Thursday, 11 September 2008, in The Woodlands, Texas.

It is a great hope that those cities in Texas, fair better then what occurred from not just Hurricane Gustav and Ike; but Katrina and Rita.

Furthermore, in some of the hurricane hit area’s, gas stations for fear of a gasoline shortage due to the hurricane’s, has stated selling gasoline at $4.63 per gallon; which is gouging, the already crippling market.