Thanks to Katrina and the people of New Orleans that ran with the money they got from FEMA and never repaired their flood damaged homes, New York and New Jersey are now suffering because the banks do not want to let go of the money so easily. My sister is going through this right now, the bank has her flood insurance check and they won't release it until a) they get the original report from the insurance adjuster (who came to her house in early November and has not returned a call since) b) an inspector from the bank has to come to the house to see that it is indeed being fixed and has to be at least 33% done! Well Fuck me, how the hell are you supposed to fix the damned house if you won't release the funds???????????????? This is a living nightmare for people that have nowhere to go, they are living in Tents and homes with no heat, no hot water, this should have been an Obama priority from the very beginning, where is he???????????? Its because its New York and New Jersey that people are getting fucked, if it was the mid west or the south they would have been in their homes already:


The brutal cold snap affecting much of the country is taking a devastating toll on victims of superstorm Sandy, many of whom are camped out in tent cities or living in homes without power, heat or running water.

Those unable to get proper lodging have hunkered down in their homes without the basic necessities of heat, electricity, or running water.

“Many families in Union Beach are using space heaters to warm upstairs,” said Jeanette Van Houten, a resident from the small New Jersey town that was among the hardest-hit communities. “There’s people with no heat, no electric, but they are staying in the house because it’s better than having to deal with FEMA and having to leave hotels every two weeks.

“There are families who have chosen to stay in their homes just to have some sort of normalcy,” she added.

The cold wave has brought single-digit temperatures to the Northeast, some 10 to 15 degrees below normal for the time of year.

Residents of the New Dorp Beach section of Staten Island have taken shelter in tents set up by aid workers with only small propane heaters, sleeping bags and blankets to stave off the bone-chilling cold, according to reports.

In the Queens neighborhood of Breezy Point, one of the most storm-ravaged areas of the region, residents lined up at the local recovery center this week to pick up donated ceramic space heaters. Many of the suffering residents in the five boroughs of New York City say their homes still are barely habitable, despite the city’s so-called Rapid Repairs program that was supposed to make their homes livable quickly.

According to the city, construction teams for the Rapid Repairs program have restored heat, hot water and power to more than 12,000 city residents, with work still to be completed in another 1,900 buildings.

Some 3,500 families are still living in hotels in New York and New Jersey, with FEMA picking up the tab. But the expense authorizations expire every two weeks and must be renewed, leaving families in a state of anxiety over where they will sleep at night.

Van Houten, whose house in Union Beach was destroyed by Sandy, has since stayed with relatives further down the coast in South Toms River. She said she feels that her and her family are fortunate.

“Things are far from better, but I’m one of the lucky ones,” she said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/01/25/sandy-victims-left-out-in-cold-during-arctic-blast/#ixzz2J1JYwAMg

Okay Tony, I'ma need you to stop reading Fox News. I hate how they twist shit. Obama was the one would put out there that Hurricane Sandy victims needed money and proposed the 64 billion in aid, the House is the one who rejected it with the members who opposed it coming from that region. So this isn't Obama's fault. I'm sorry that your sister is going through a crisis but yeah.....it's obvious how much of the country looks down on Northeasterns. I hope it's a sign for the majority of you dumb Northeastern Republicans.

Nystyle709 wrote:

Okay Tony, I'ma need you to stop reading Fox News. I hate how they twist shit. Obama was the one would put out there that Hurricane Sandy victims needed money and proposed the 64 billion in aid, the House is the one who rejected it with the members who opposed it coming from that region. So this isn't Obama's fault. I'm sorry that your sister is going through a crisis but yeah.....it's obvious how much of the country looks down on Northeasterns. I hope it's a sign for the majority of you dumb Northeastern Republicans.

The republicans are entirely to blame for this shamefulness. I hope people will remember that in 2014

And the FOX "News" channel is forbidden in my home.

I hope your sister can get this straightened out soon, Tony. I'd say maybe she needs to get a lawyer but it sounds like there's a long line.

This was in the newspaper today. Gov. Christie was addressing the New Jersey Hospital Association.

Quote :

The speech was supposed to be routine, so humdrum that Gov. Chris Christie went to address hospital executives at the Hyatt Regency in West Windsor without even bringing a press aide.

It was anything but that. An animated Christie used the occasion today to give a blow-by-blow account of his conversations with President Obama and share details about the Groundhog Day rhythm of his monotonous schedule after Hurricane Sandy.

After he joined Obama on a tour of the battered Jersey shoreline — both in the air and on the ground — Christie said he put Michele Brown, head of the Economic Development Authority, in charge of making sure service stations got supplies of gasoline. But only the president could circumvent pipelines that had been shut down.

"I said, ‘Alright, I’ll call the president,’" Christie said. "‘Mr. President, Hi, it’s Chris. Remember yesterday when you told me if I needed anything to call you on this line? I need gas.’"

With that, Christie said, Obama asked how much and the governor said he used a tactic familiar to anyone facing a room of blank stares.

"I’m sorry sir, you’re breaking up." Christie said, mimicking a person holding a cellphone with a bad connection. "Did you ask how much gas I need?"

He said he looked around at his staff in desperation and then Bob Martin, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, offered: "Twelve million gallons?"

"Mr. President, we’ve looked at the problem and we need 12 million gallons," Christie repeated.

Five minutes later "Unknown" flashed on Christie’s phone and the president — saying "Hey Chris, it’s Barack" — told him the fuel would be ready.

Later, Christie ran into a regulatory roadblock with the Federal Emergency Management Agency about the delivery of the gas and again called Obama, this time at 11:45 p.m., or perhaps 12:45 a.m., he couldn’t recall.

"You’re not going to believe this, but some idiot at FEMA ordered the gas trucks ... to be turned around because I wouldn’t give it away for free," Christie said.

Obama quickly brought Craig Fugate, the FEMA administrator, in on a conference call.

According to Christie, Obama said, "Craig what did I tell you when we were on the phone the other day as to Governor Christie?"

"Give him whatever he wants," Fugate replied.

Twenty minutes later, the trucks were rolling from McGuire Air Force Base to the state’s gas-starved service stations.

"So when I get all this credit about our response to Sandy, I say to folks all the time, I was only as good as the people in that room, who were working 16 to 18 hours a day in a room with no windows with a Groundhog Day-like repetitiveness to our days," Christie told the annual meeting of the New Jersey Hospitals Association.

The room he was describing was a conference room at state police headquarters in West Trenton, which the governor used as his base of operations during and after the storm.

"When the state police are in charge of your food, that becomes not only a nutritional nightmare, but also if they see you eat something one day, they figure it’s your favorite thing," Christie said.

That meant a daily parade of trays of Philly soft pretzels with dipping sauce and bags of green grapes labeled "For the governor only".

"None of the cabinet touched the damn grapes," he joked, looking at Health Commissioner Mary O’Dowd, who was in the audience. "Go near the grapes and you’re going to get one in the thigh ..."

But, he said, even with the monotony his staff stepped up.

"People still found the inspiration to have creativity," he said. "Those are special people."

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/01/gov_christie_addresses_nj_hosp.html