TO ALL :::::::::::: we all do remember the hurracain "sandy" and how tens of thousands of families lost their homes; lost their place for shopping, lost their heat, lost their plumbing, lost their electricity, lost their whole house. most of these families stayed together as a home and eventualy somehow someone helped them to get their house back. however; some of these families still have a home without a house; without a complete house; without heat and/or without plumbing and/or without electricity or even without a roof. ?????? is sandy in egypt ?????? THIS IS TRUE; THE LOCAL GOVERNMENTS - THE STATE GOVERNMENTS - THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT have still not helped all the victums of sandy. HOWEVER look at egypt. the US government is getting ready to send billions of dollars of military equipment to the new terrorist government of egypt. this military aid is based on a treaty with the former government of egypt. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ internet links and comments later; vlad
to all :::::::::::: here is a link --- http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/hurricane-sandy-victims-60b-article-1.1216198 --- here is the content ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Victims of Hurricane Sandy say $60 Billion in federal aid is not enough 'It’s not enough because all these agencies are going to have their hands out,' said Ed Wilmarth, a retired mechanic and volunteer firefighter from Broad Channel whose home was badly flooded. Comments (16) Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/hurricane-sandy-victims-60b-article-1.1216198#ixzz2JOZdIyVd more later;
It's based on a peace treaty with Israel-the latter too receives billions of dollars in military equipment. It's in America's interest for there to be peace between the two nations (if you're not an isolationist).
to all ::::::::::::: here is the link --- http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2013/01/02/hurricane-sandy-victims-given-short-shrift/ -- here is the content; ~~~~~~~~~~~ Hurricane Sandy victims given short shrift 1:16 pm January 2, 2013, by Jay House Speaker John Boehner had promised that in the waning hours of the 112th Congress, the House would be allowed to vote on a $60 billion relief package for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut areas ravaged by Hurricane Sandy. The bill had already passed the Senate. But no such vote was held, probably because Boehner lacked the stomach to ask his caucus to support such a bill right after forcing through the much-despised fiscal-cliff legislation. The decision means that an infusion of federal aid will be delayed for another month if not longer, a fact that has Northeast congressmen and governors, including Republicans, spitting mad. more later; vlad - - - Updated - - - to all ::::::::::::: here is the link --- http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2013/01/02/hurricane-sandy-victims-given-short-shrift/ --
to all ::::::::::::::::: here is the link -- http://www.denverpost.com/nationwor...andy-victims-struggle-emotional-mental-trauma --- here is the content ;; ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nation and World Hurricane Sandy victims struggle with emotional, mental trauma Posted: 12/16/2012 12:01:00 AM MST December 16, 2012 7:30 AM GMTUpdated: 12/16/2012 12:30:34 AM MSTBy Katie Zezima and Meghan Barr The Associated PressAssociated Press Anthony Gatti makes a call while resting in a tent where he is living in the Midland Beach section of the Staten Island borough of New York. The image of his brother trapped in a car with water rising to his neck, his eyes silently pleading for help, is part of a recurring nightmare that wakes Gatti up at night. Gatti hauled his brother out of the car just in time at the height of Hurricane Sandy. But weeks afterward, Gatti hasn't moved on. (Seth Wenig, The Associated Press)Related Articles Jan 26: Those in hotels after Sandy live in state of anxiety Jan 13: Sandy relief package swells aid for past disasters Jan 5: Congress passes $9.7 billion in Hurricane Sandy aid Dec 2: Month after Sandy, 12,000 still living in unheated, damaged homes Nov 24: Immigrants hit hard by Hurricane Sandy afraid to ask for help Nov 19: Christie, Cuomo, Bloomberg get praise for response to Hurricane Sandy Nov 18: New York to demolish 200 homes damaged by Hurricane Sandy Nov 16: Obama tours Sandy-damaged areas in New York, vows to help all victims Nov 12: Most power restored after Sandy, but tens of thousands still waiting Nov 11: Occupy Wall Street morphs into Occupy Sandy, offering reliefNEW YORK — The image of his brother trapped in a car with water rising to his neck, his eyes silently pleading for help, is part of a recurring nightmare that wakes up Anthony Gatti, screaming, at night. Gatti hauled his brother out of the car just in time, saving his life at the height of Hurricane Sandy. The two men rode out the storm in their childhood Staten Island home and survived. But weeks afterward, Gatti hasn't moved on. Now he's living in a tent in the backyard, burning pieces of furniture as firewood, refusing to leave until the place is demolished. Day and night, he is haunted by memories of the storm. "My mind don't let me get past the fact that I can't get him out of the car. And I know I did," Gatti said, squeezing shut his eyes at the memory. "But my mind don't let me think that. My mind tells me I couldn't save him, he dies." As communities battered by Sandy clear away the physical wreckage, a new crisis is emerging: the mental and emotional trauma that storm victims, including children, have endured. The extent of the problem is difficult to measure, as many people are too anxious to leave their homes, wracked by fears of wind and water and parting from their loved ones. Others are too busy dealing with losses of property and livelihood to deal with their grief. To tackle the problem, government officials are dispatching more than 1,000 crisis counselors to the worst-hit areas in New York and New Jersey, helping victims begin the long work of repairing Sandy's emotional damage. Counselors are assuring people that anxiety and insomnia are natural after a disaster. But when the trauma starts to interfere with daily life, it's probably time to seek help. And in a pattern that played out in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, symptoms might get worse as victims transition from the initial shock to the disillusionment phase of the recovery. "Folks are starting to realize that they may be in this for the long haul," said Eric Hierholzer, a commander in the U.S. Public Health Service. "And things aren't necessarily going to get better tomorrow or next week." Read more: Hurricane Sandy victims struggle with emotional, mental trauma - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/nationwor...truggle-emotional-mental-trauma#ixzz2JObnpoos Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse more later; vlad
to all :::::::::::::: here is the link --- http://www.silive.com/eastshore/index.ssf/2012/12/deaf_staten_island_victim_of_h.html --- here is the content ; ~~~~~~~~~~ Deaf Staten Island victim of Hurricane Sandy says pleas go unheeded Carol Lazorisak of Oakwood Beach gestures outside her home. (Photo by Anthony DePrimo) By Deborah Young/Staten Island Advance Staten Island Advance on December 08, 2012 at 6:02 AM, updated December 12, 2012 at 8:38 AM Print Email Deaf Staten Island Hurricane Sandy victim struggles to get interpretive services from FEMA, city Carol Lazorisak's Oakwood Beach home was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. Adding to her frustration is the fact that adequate interpreter services from FEMA, the city and at public meetings relating to the disaster have not been made available, says Ms. Lazorisak, who has been Deaf since birth. Watch video STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- When police with megaphones rolled through Carole Lazorisak’s Oakwood Beach neighborhood in the hours before the hurricane thrust ashore, she did not hear their announcement about evacuation help. In the days after the surge ripped her Tarlton Street home off its foundation, filled it with water to a depth of 5 feet and tossed her shed nearly a block away, she joined the thousands of other dazed victims at Miller Field in New Dorp, seeking some answers and a measure of comfort. But for Ms. Lazorisak, who has been deaf since birth, walking through the bustling relief center was like being in a movie on silent. There were no signs providing information for the deaf or directing people to translation services. She left feeling more isolated than ever. “I am extremely frustrated because of the lack of communication, the lack of help, the lack of information. I was left lost and in the dark for the first two weeks after Sandy destroyed my home,” said Ms. Lazorisak, as her friend Marybeth Imsho translated from American Sign Language — a service she has provided during virtually every face-to-face meeting with FEMA or city agencies, and at the borough president’s town hall meeting last month — where no interpreter was provided for nearly a dozen deaf audience members. “My home is going to be demolished by the city in the next week and I need information.” Ms. Lazorisak — an Advance Woman of Achievement and a professor at Hunter College — understands the urgency of communication, especially during crises like Sandy, and the requirements of the American with Disabilities Act that everyone have equal access to services. Even before Sandy hit, she lectured to municipalities on how to assist the hearing-impaired before, during and after natural disasters: In other words, how to avoid meting out the kind of treatment she said she has received at the hands of FEMA and the city. “Now I’m the one who needs help and nobody has helped me and nobody has helped me on Staten Island,” she said. Since the storm, she has sometimes used her car as a hotel room on wheels, or spending nights in friends’ homes near the Queens campus where she teaches and on the Island. Her husband, who is retired and also deaf, left their home for Florida to live with their grown daughter. She plans to join him after she finishes the semester. “I have nothing left here,” she said of the neighborhood where her family has lived for three generations. “I’m leaving New York.” Her home of 40 years, which she, her husband and late father painstakingly restored and improved, is covered in grime and smells of growing mold. Cracks in the foundation can be seen in the brand-new bathroom. It cannot be saved. Ms. Lazorisak said she has received not a penny from the Federal Emergency Management Agency because she has flood insurance. Her insurer has, so far, said it would pay $10,000 of a maximum of $20,000. Her homeowner’s insurance has refused to cover anything. “My life washed away in five minutes,” she said, recounting what a neighbor told her about how violently the water pushed inland, destroying the whole block within five minutes. “This was a tsunami.” But the second tragedy came in the form of being shut out by the government and the people who were supposed to help, she said. When FEMA came to survey the home, she texted that she is deaf but no such person accompanied them during her walk-through. She gave up on Miller Field after the first meeting, but even at the Hylan Boulevard Center in Dongan Hills, where a sign proclaims interpretative services are available, they simply offered her a computer and told her to make a video call. “I asked them, ‘Where is the interpreter?’ They said, ‘We have these things to use.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ They said, ‘Equipment.’ I need a live interpreter, not a piece of equipment.” She tried to use the video-relay equipment provided, which took 45 minutes to set up, only to be told by an operator that it was for outside calls, not individual meetings. “I lost an hour of time and I only had a five-minute question,” said Ms. Lazorisak. After that frustrating experience, she didn’t return until Ms. Imsho could clear space on her schedule and accompany her friend. “It’s very emotional. There’s a lot of information. You have to take your own notes. It’s not something you can do while turning to look at a video,” said Ms. Imsho. The city’s response was hardly better, she said, amounting to mobile devices, which did not work well, or an Internet connection. “We don’t see the use of the iPad or the use of the video-relay interpreter as the whole solution, but we see it as immediate access to effective communication,” said Marcie Roth, director of FEMA’s office of disability integration and coordination, who could not comment specifically about Ms. Lazorisak’s situation but explained that all recovery centers have computer-assisted technology to allow for conversations to be interpreted. “We are committed to providing access to effective communication. With the large number of disaster recovery centers open at once, it would be virtually impossible to provide enough interpreters from the moment they opened to the moment they closed each and every day.” Still, she said, it is possible to call ahead and make an appointment with an interpreter. Not so, according to Ms. Lazorisak and Ms. Imsho, who detailed how they pleaded with officials simply to provide appointments with interpeters. Similarly, calls placed to local elected officials days in advance of public meetings to request a sign language interpreter were simply ignored, said Ms. Imsho. According to FEMA, the agency will supply an interpreter, even if the meeting isn’t their own, if they receive a request in advance. Although Ms. Roth could not offer a tally of the number of interpreters on call in the New York area, she said there is a staff. At a public municipal meeting on Long Island this week, FEMA provided interpreters, she noted; she promised to follow up with Ms. Lazorisak to explore the disconnect. Meanwhile, the city sent a statement, reading in part: “The city strives to meet the needs of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. For example, as you recall, there were ASL interpreters at the mayor’s daily Hurricane Sandy briefings during the height of the storm. Furthermore, the city’s recovery centers have been instructed to provide this community with reasonable accommodation consistent with the ADA. This accommodation includes making arrangements for an on-site ASL interpreter, writing down instructions, and employing other mechanisms when practicable.” For now, Ms. Lazorisak is looking forward to Monday’s multi-agency meeting and another, on Dec. 19, with attorneys, sponsored by state Sen. Andrew Lanza. “We have asked them to provide services,” said Ms. Imsho, who was told they couldn’t help and she should do the interpretation, pro bono. But she herself has to teach that night at St. John’s University, and cannot be there. “Of course I would volunteer. I’ve volunteered many hours to help. But it’s against the law for them to expect it. It’s their duty to provide equal access to everybody.” more later; vlad
to all ::::::::::::: here is the link --http://reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/2012/egyptian-military-aid-still-flying-high/ --- here is the content;; ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Egyptian military aid still flying high By Lindsay Young Dec 12 2012 9 a.m. The planned delivery of 20 Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter planes to Egypt is the perfect symbol of iron triangles at work--special interests and their lobbyists, federal agencies and the lawmakers who fund them. But in the years since President Dwight Eisenhower delivered his warning about the inertia of defense contracts in 1961, the lobbying has only grown more sophisticated. The U.S. government gives Egypt foreign aid, which it uses to buy U.S. military hardware. Lobbyists for the Egyptian government and Lockheed Martin (they both used the same firm) arranged meetings between the buyer and the seller, between representatives of Egypt's military and the Defense Department and key members of Congress who provided Egypt with the U.S. taxpayer dollars--some $213 million--to pay for the planes. The government of long serving President Hosni Mubarak agreed to purchase the planes from Lockheed in 2010. In the two months before Lockheed Martin announced the deal, lobbyists for Egypt had 46 contacts with government officials, including a dozen with high ranking officials in the Pentagon and 11 with State Department officials. In less than a year, the Arab Spring protests drove Mubarak from power. The shift to military caretaker government to the election of Mohamad Morsi--the Muslim Brotherhood leader whose rule has also drawn protests-- did not derail the deal or lead to a change in the package of foreign aid the United States provides. Egypt is the second biggest recipient of aid thanks to the historic Camp David Accords, when President Jimmy Carter brokered a peace deal, part of which involved a huge, ongoing U.S. support for both Israel and Egypt. According to ForeignAssistance.gov, the federal government plans to pay Egypt $1.56 billion in foreign aid this year. More than 80 percent of the aid comes in the form of “Peace and Security” appropriations. The Washington lobbying of Egypt preceding the deal, as found on Sunlight's Foreign Lobbying Influence Tracker, was intense. Cairo's team, then working for the Mubarak regime, included Toby Moffett, a former member of Congress from Connecticut, and Robert Livingston, the former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. The pair arranged meetings with key legislators who oversaw foreign aid packages, including Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., both of whom who serve on the Appropriations Committee. The lobbyists also met with military contacts US Central Command Officers. In 2008, lobbyists for Egypt made over 1,000 contacts with government officials, according to disclosures filed with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agent Registration Act, including Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., who is now the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and who opposes extending aid to Egpyt's new leaders. “Now the Obama Administration wants to simply throw money at an Egyptian government that the President cannot even clearly state is an ally of the United States,” she said in a statement. A change in the country's lobbying posture followed the change in government. Egypt continued their contract with the PLM Group--a combine of three highly connected Washington lobbying firms--after the transition to military rule, but terminated their lobbying relationship in January of 2012. Since Mubarak stepped down in 2011, Egypt ended its contracts with Qorvis, Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter and Assoc. Inc. and PLM Group (which includes the Podesta Group, the Livingston Group, and the Moffett Group under its umbrella). PLM received $759,000 from Egypt in 2009, according to the Justice Department’s semiannual reports to Congress. more later; vlad
to all :::::::::: here is the link ;; http://www.propublica.org/blog/item...where-does-the-money-go-who-decides-how-spent here is the content F.A.Q. on U.S. Aid to Egypt: Where Does the Money Go—And Who Decides How It’s Spent? by Marian Wang and Theodoric Meyer ProPublica, Oct. 9, 2012, 12:01 p.m. 86 CommentsRepublishEmail Your email Your name Friends’ email(s) max 10, separated by commas Personal message Print83 inShare. Email An Egyptian demonstrator looks up at a helicopter as he and others gather in Tahrir Square, in Cairo, on Jan. 31, 2011. (Photo by Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images) This article has been updated to reflect new developments. It was first published on Jan. 31, 2011. The regime change in Egypt — and in particular, the riots outside the American embassy [1] last month — have prompted renewed questions about American aid to the country. (A recent poll [2] found that 42 percent of Americans supported cutting aid to Egypt; 29 percent supported cutting it off altogether.) We've taken a step back and tried to answer some basic questions, including how much the U.S. is giving Egypt, what's changed since the Arab Spring and who is benefiting from all this aid money. How much does the U.S. spend on Egypt? Egypt gets the most U.S. foreign aid of any country except for Israel. (This doesn't include the money [3] spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.) The exact amount varies from year to year and there are many different funding streams, but U.S. foreign assistance to Egypt has averaged about $2 billion a year since 1979, when Egypt struck a peace treaty [4] with Israel following the Camp David accords, according to the Congressional Research Service. That includes military and economic aid, though the latter has declined by more than two-thirds since 1998, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report [5]. Let's start with the military aid. How much is it, and what does it buy? Military aid — which comes through a funding stream known as Foreign Military Financing — has held steady at about $1.3 billion since 1987. American officials have long argued that the money promotes strong ties between the American and Egyptian militaries, which gives the U.S. all kinds of benefits. U.S. Navy warships, for instance, get "expedited processing" when they pass through the Suez Canal. Here's a 2009 U.S. embassy cable released by WikiLeaks that makes essentially the same point [6]: President Mubarak and military leaders view our military assistance program as the cornerstone of our mil-mil relationship and consider the USD 1.3 billion in annual FMF as "untouchable compensation" for making and maintaining peace with Israel. The tangible benefits to our mil-mil relationship are clear: Egypt remains at peace with Israel, and the U.S. military enjoys priority access to the Suez Canal and Egyptian airspace. The military funding also enables Egypt to purchase U.S.-manufactured military goods and services. But a 2006 report from the Government Accountability Office [7] (PDF) criticized both the State Department and the Defense Department for failing to measure how the funding actually contributes to U.S. goals. Does this aid require Egypt to meet any specific conditions regarding human rights? It didn't for a long time. When an exiled Egyptian dissident called on the U.S. to attach conditions to aid to Egypt in 2008, Francis J. Ricciardone Jr., who had recently stepped down as the U.S. ambassador to Egypt, told the Washington Post [8] the idea was "admirable but not realistic." And Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that military aid "should be without conditions" [9] at a Cairo press conference in 2009. Last December Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, led Congress in adding language to a spending bill to make aid to Egypt conditional on the secretary of state certifying that Egypt is supporting human rights and being a good neighbor. The language requires that Egypt abide by the 1979 peace treaty with Israel, support "the transition to civilian government including holding free and fair elections," and put in place policies to protect freedom of expression, association, and religion, and due process of law." It sounds pretty tough, but it's not. So has American aid to Egypt been cut off? No. Congress threatened to block the aid when Egypt began a crackdown on a number of American pro-democracy groups this winter. A senior Obama administration official said that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had no way to certify [10] the bill's conditions were being met. But in March Clinton waived the certification requirement (yes, she can do that) and approved the aid, despite concerns remaining about Egypt's human rights record. The reason? "A delay or cut in $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt risked breaking existing contracts with American arms manufacturers that could have shut down production lines in the middle of President Obama's re-election campaign," the New York Times reported [11]. Breaking the contracts could have left the Pentagon on the hook for $2 billion. Oy vey. What kind of arms have we been sending them, anyway? According to the State Department, the aid has included [12] fighter jets, tanks, armored personnel carriers, attack helicopters, antiaircraft missiles, and surveillance aircraft. In the past, the Egyptian government has bought some of the weaponry on credit. What about economic aid and efforts to promote democracy? U.S. economic aid to Egypt has slumped from $815 million in 1998 to about $250 million in 2011. The various economic aid efforts have had mixed results. The State Department has described [12] the Commodity Import Program, which gave Egypt millions of dollars between 1986 and 2008 to import American goods, as "one of the largest and most popular USAID programs." But an audit of the four-year, $57 million effort to create agricultural jobs and boost rural incomes in 2007 found that the program [13] "has not increased the number of jobs as planned" [PDF]. And an audit of a $151 million program [14] [PDF] to modernize Egypt's real estate finance market in 2009 found that, while the market had improved since the program began, the growth was "not clearly measureable or attributable" to the aid efforts. The U.S. has also funded programs to promote democracy and good government in Egypt — again with few results. It has sent about $24 million a year between 1999 and 2009 to a variety of NGOs in the country. According to a 2009 inspector general's audit [15] [PDF], the efforts didn't add much due to "a lack of support" from the Egyptian government, which "suspended the activities of many U.S. NGOs because Egyptian officials thought these organizations were too aggressive." A WikiLeaks cable [16] revealed the Egyptian government had asked USAID to stop financing NGOs that weren't properly registered. more later; vlad
to mr. goomba :::::::::::: thanks for your comment and reply. i am glad that there is someone out there who is reading my thread. ??? why is it necessary to send military aid to a new government which is currently in disruption and to a nation which is currently facing the possibility of being divided into two ethnic parts, two religion parts ??? there is no reason -- it is just self perpetuating beurocracy (get that spelling later). the foreign aid to egypt could be stopped. vlad
Because peace between Israel and Egypt depend on it. Hostility between the two countries is detrimental to the US' foreign (and domestic) interests.
to goomba ::::: there is a new plan in the state department of the USA. the idea is to destabalise and reorganize egypt into two national states. there are very many coptic christians in upper egypt who want a new independent state. there are very few arab muslims in lower egypt who are willing to comprimise with the christian minority. therfore the only solution is to divide egypt into two national states. the coptic christians are actualy the original egyptians (from their point of view) and they are also the original christians anywhere. they claim to be subjected to inferior treatment as a conquered people; freedom is the only answer. after egypt has been divided into two states, neither of them may be a threat to any other nation in the east med. vlad
to all ::::::::::: here is one more article about hurricane sandy. ~~~~~~~~~~ In wake of Hurricane Sandy, New Yorkers hit with transit fare hike By Alan Whyte 29 December 2012 Only two months after New York City and the surrounding region were hit with the worst storm in decades—causing massive destruction of homes and workers’ livelihoods and disrupting mass transit service for millions—the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) voted December 19 to increase bus and train fares, as well as tolls on the bridges and tunnels that it controls. Transit workers repairing tracks on the D Line in the Bronx [Photo: MTA New York City Transit / Leonard Wiggins] The fare hikes, which average out to 7.5 percent, are only the latest in a series of unending increases that have driven up the cost of a monthly pass for riding New York City’s buses and subways by 32 percent since 2008. Monthly fares on the MTA’s commuter rail lines have gone up by 21 percent in the same period. In the brief discussion on the MTA board before it unanimously voted to impose the increases, one of its members, Andrew Albert, described the combination of fare and toll hikes as “the best of the worst of the lot.” He warned that the relentless increases were becoming “an unfathomable proposition for many middle class families” and that “something has to happen before we price this gem of a system out of the reach of most New Yorkers.” Included in the increases passed by the MTA board are a 25 cent hike to the base subway and bus fare, which will now be $2.50, an increase in the seven-day fare from $29 to $30, and a hike in the 30-day card from $104 to $112. The MTA will also charge another dollar if a customer fails to refill an old card and must purchase a new one. The fares will also go up on the authority’s two commuter lines, the Long Island Railroad and Metro-North, by an average of 9 percent. Each individual railroad carries about 300,000 weekday passengers. The base tolls on MTA bridges and tunnels will also go up from $6.50 to $7.50, with discounts for users of E-ZPass. For the Verrazano Bridge, which links Staten Island to Brooklyn, the basic cash toll increases to a whopping $15. This is the seventh fare hike since 2003, and will go into effect March 1 of next year. The agency hopes it will raise $450 million. Additional increases averaging out to 7.5 percent have been projected for 2015 and 2017. As soon as the vote was over, MTA chief Joe Lhota announced that he would resign his position effective December 31 so that he can run for mayor in 2013 as a Republican candidate. Lhota, who served as deputy mayor and political enforcer under Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor, was described in a book by Giuliani as “a rarity in New York City—an ideological Republican.” Having been chairman for less than a year, Lhota has been built up by the media as the man responsible for getting the trains and buses running after Hurricane Sandy, a claim that ignored both the round-the-clock efforts of transit workers and the fact that the transit system was still not functioning in a significant number of areas. The reality is that the MTA was ill prepared for the hurricane, even though its own panel of experts warned of the likelihood of such an event and made detailed proposals to protect the system. Because of their cost, these measures were not implemented. The MTA is strapped for resources because of its ballooning debt and inadequate federal and state funding. The agency’s resources are dedicated increasingly to meeting payments on its $32 billion in long-term debt, which is expected to rise to $39 billion by 2015. Out of its current $13.1 billion annual budget, the agency uses $2.3 billion to service the debt, which by 2015 is expected to rise to $2.6 billion, and possibly to more than $3 billion by 2016. The bond debt has been accumulated as a result of capital improvement programs designed to save the transit system from complete collapse after years of underfunding and serious neglect of infrastructure in the late 1970s and early 1980s. However, due to a lack of federal and state support, the agency has been selling bonds and paying out interest on them. Almost a third of all fare and toll increases go to paying off this debt. The cost of the hurricane’s damage to transit infrastructure will compel the authority to increase this debt, borrowing almost $5 billion in short-term recovery notes over the next two years. The MTA is determined to make transit workers as well as passengers pay for this ever-growing red ink. The authority had already cut back train and bus service and eliminated some 3,500 jobs throughout the system. For transit workers, it is more than 11 months since the last arbitrators’ award expired on January 15 of this year, and the agency continues to demand a wage freeze, the introduction of part-time bus operators, the expansion of one-person train operation, (i.e., an increase in the number of lines that do not have a conductor), a doubling of workers’ contributions to health plans, as well as other takeaways. Workers’ growing dissatisfaction with the role of the union, Transport Workers Union Local 100, found clear expression on December 15, when a mass membership meeting called by the leadership attracted barely 700 of the local’s 38,000 members. The president of the union, John Samuelsen, recently won reelection with a little more than 7,000 votes, less than one fifth of the membership. More than one third (13,000) of New York City’s transit workers are ineligible to vote or attend meetings because of their refusal to pay back dues stemming from the union’s loss of the dues check-off system for 17 months as punishment for calling a three-day strike in December 2005. At the meeting, Samuelsen provided no perspective for a fight against the MTA. Ruling out a strike, he proposed to continue stalled negotiations with the transit agency. He defended his support for Barack Obama under conditions in which the Democratic president is negotiating with the Republicans to cut trillions of dollars from social services such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, as well as discretionary funding that includes money for mass transit. The MTA is a public agency composed of board members selected by both the Democratic and Republican parties. Its determination to freeze transit workers’ wages and continuously raise fares is part of the bipartisan agreement by both major parties, locally and nationally, to make the working population pay for the deepening economic crisis. In New York City, the fare hikes and the wage freeze are being imposed to secure the profits of the same Wall Street banks and wealthy bondholders who were bailed out with trillions in public funds following the 2008 financial meltdown and to ensure that the city’s 59 billionaires and thousands of multi-millionaires are not compelled to pay any new taxes. ~~~~~~~~~~ vlad
to mr. wolf :::::::::: i do not understand the need for you to post your trashy comment. it is not a comment about the topic of my thread. you are only being trashy. please stop trashing my thread. vlad
When New Orleans was hit by the hurricane, President Bush tried to reach the Democrat Governor to ask her if she wanted him to send the National Guard. According to our Constitution, the Federal Government has no more right to enter the State of Louisiana, than it has to enter a foreign country. Well the Governor was no where to be found. The liberal Democrat press, instead of critisizing the Democrat Governor, began throwing the blame on Bush for their own political gain, even though they knew better. In order not to burden New Orleans and Lousiana more than necessary, Pres. Bush waited until things settled down before visiting. Again the press had a hey day. When the hurricane hit New York City, Obama asked the mayor if he could visit and Mayor Bloomberg said no, his visit would put too much of a burden on the city. Gov. Christy of New Jersey, thinking he would get Federal help sooner if he allowed the President to visit said yes, and all you could see on the liberal media from morning until night, was compassionate Obama hugging the people who had lost their homes. Of course they're still waiting for aid. All the money that was sent to New Orleans, ended up in the corrupt hands of the Mayor and his cronies, but that's okay, he's a liberal Democrat, and they have special priviledges. When the BP oil spill occurred in the Gulf, Pres. Obama stopped all drilling and it cost tens of thousands of people in Louisiana their jobs. But that's okay, they were 'Southern' whites, and would not have voted for Obama anyway, so why should he care? I believe later on he gave the drilling rights to Brazil. Is it any wonder some States want to secede from the U.S.?
The Copts are the original Egyptians. Their language is the original language of Egypt. The Muslims speak an Arabic language. The name Copt in Greek means 'cut'. They were cut off from the Orthodox Christians because they didn't recognize one of the Ecumenical councils. As for a two state solution in Egypt, that would be great, but can it be done without the Copts being massacred? Of course that would be the one time Nato would be right in intervening, but it probably won't.
you better hope it is not stopped or there will no peace treaty and your ships will need to sail round Africa instead of using Suez canal and there will be no US aircraft allowed to land or fly in Egyptian airspace
So what you are saying is that arabs will double cross US if they will not recieve money ? We know that. Thank you for confirming it.
to jeffK9 ---- i was not comparing foreign aid to waging war; i was comparing local american disasters with foreign waste. it is a waste to send military aid to egypt. it is only a total waste. vlad
to all ::::::::::::: perhaps this article is relavent to this thread ;;; ~~~~~~~~~~~ Every five in ten Americans do not trust their government 12.03.2013 | Source: Pravda.Ru According to the independent research center in Washington, the number of American citizens, who do not trust their own government, continues to grow, CBS Washington reports. The report data were collected by independent research center Pew Research. It was revealed that representatives of all demographic groups, regardless of their loyalties and interests, lose faith in the government and in the decisions that the government takes. Pew Research published the results of the research on its website. "However, there are a number of mismatches," - the report says - "Hispanic and black population trusts the federal government at a greater extent than the white population does." In addition, the younger the person, the more they trust the U.S. government. Republicans and those declaring themselves independent individuals, are less inclined to trust the government than the Liberals. According to Pew Research, during Bill Clinton's presidency, the percentage of confidence made up 60. Nowadays, the percentage of non-confidence equals 73. Thus, on average, 7 out of 10 Americans do not trust the government. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ vlad
