State of Mississippi steals Katrina survivors' money

Republican Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour with a 'friend' Photo from msnbc.com)

As soon as I began reading this story about the US state of Mississippi 'diverting' $600M of federal grants intended to replace housing lost to Hurricane Katrina, it had the stench of 'Republican' all over it.

Sure enough, the governor of Mississippi, Haley Barbour is a Republican - a former lobbyist turned politician.

This is... just wrong on so many levels. It's wrong on this level:

While thousands of Mississippians who lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina remain in FEMA trailers, the state intends to spend $600 million in federal grants originally earmarked for housing on a major expansion of the state-owned port — a project that could eventually include casino and resort facilities.

It's wrong on this level too:

Mississippi, with the highest poverty rate of any state by several measures, already had won HUD waivers of rules that require the funds to benefit low- and moderate-income residents.

It is also wrong on this level:

It wasn't until early December, six months after the update was adopted by the port authority, that the state development authority sought a waiver from HUD to divert $600 million of the housing grant money to the port — more than double the net dollar damage reportedly sustained by the port from Katrina.

It's wrong because of this too:

Barbour maintains that some of the federal grant money always was intended for port expansion. But the state development authority did not provide any documentation to support that. And despite repeated requests, agency spokeswoman Melissa Medley did not respond to other msnbc.com questions about the fund diversion and housing programs.
Barbour’s current position that part of the housing grant pool was always intended for the port is at odds with his March 2006 testimony before a Senate committee, in which he emphasized that the CDBG money was mostly committed to housing and sought new funds for the port.

But most of all it is wrong because of this:

In its “Mississippi CDBG Recovery Fund Report Card,” the Steps Coalition reported that as of mid-January more than 13,000 Mississippi families — or a total of 35,129 people — remained in FEMA housing, nearly 90 percent of them in small travel trailers and most of them ineligible for the CDBG-funded grants.

Another 15,500 households — more than 40,000 people — have open case files with long-term recovery organizations and need assistance to repair their homes and replace belongings, according to the report. Replacement of low-income rental housing also is moving very slowly, and government programs and incentives will restore fewer than half of the 28,514 units damaged and destroyed by Katrina, according to the coalition.

Basically, this disgusting situation was summed up pretty efficiently here:

“There’s no other explanation except that the state doesn’t think the lower income storm victims are as important a priority as the port," said Reilly Morse, an attorney with the Mississippi Center for Justice, part of the coalition.

But let us cut to the chase, shall we? The chase that was brutally exposed and opened by the inefficiency and indifference of US government officials in 2005 when Katrina struck.

According to Wikipedia's entry on Mississipi:

Mississippi has the highest Black population of any U.S. state. It currently stands at about 37% of the population.

Based on economic and demographic trends in the U.S. I think we can safely surmise who the majority of these 'low-income' Katrina victimes are.

Clearly, it's not just George Bush that doesn't care about black people.