That's O.K., We'll Just Keep 10% More of Our Oil

I heard Rep. Melancon on the radio while driving to work the other morning, on WWL. He said that for Hurricane Andrew, midwest floods, and 9/11, per capita federal aid was in the low-to-mid hundreds (e.g., $300/per Floridian and $900/New Yorker). Didn't catch the exact figures, but it doesn't matter since the costs of this disaster blew the others away -- about $6300 per capita!

The feds waived the Stafford Act requiring a 10% match to draw down disaster aid for these disasters right away. Why hasn't it been waived for us a year and a half later? Did it take a federal law to waive it for other disasters?

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn says he will introduce legislation Wednesday that will help places recovering from Hurricane Katrina get federal aid without putting up local matching money.

New Orleans has complained about money being available but has said it lacks the cash to get critical projects under way after the 2005 hurricane flooded much of the city. Federal law now requires that governments match some federal aid with ten percent of their own cash.

But Clyburn says that requirement has been waived repeatedly including when terrorists attacked the nation on September Eleventh, 2001.
-Source

U.N. Has New All-Female Peacekeeping Unit

Click on the title of this post to see a BBC news story about this all-female unit.

I just thought this was an interesting story. Folks are hoping that one result of their presence will be a decrease in the exploitation of women and girls in Liberia, where they are now deployed. I hope so.