Day: October 13, 2009

Dear Mr President We Still Have Insurance Problems: Gene Taylor Writes a Letter to the Prez


Congressman Gene Taylor
U.S. House of Representatives
Fourth District of Mississippi

————————————

2269 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5772
Fax (202) 225-7074

For Immediate Release
Contact: Ana Maria Rosato (202) 253-1308
October 13, 2009

Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) Urges President Obama to Reform National Flood Insurance Program, Act on Multiple Peril Insurance legislation 

Bay St. Louis, Miss. — With the President’s upcoming visit to New Orleans on October 15, 2009, Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) wrote Mr. Obama urging the Administration to reform the National Flood Insurance Program and revisit the Multiple Peril Insurance Act of 2009, his proposed solution to the homeowner insurance crisis that is sweeping America’s homeowners throughout the Gulf and Atlantic coastal states. Rep. Taylor urged the Administration to engage in “more actively in reforming the National Flood Insurance Program, providing for better disaster insurance coverage, and improving other disaster response and recovery programs.”

Rep. Taylor’s letter opened by reminding President Obama that since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Mississippi Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, he has not yet visited the area either as a Senator, a candidate for President, or as President. In the letter, the Mississippi Congressman stated:

“Immediately after [Hurricane] Katrina, we learned that some of the largest insurance companies in America were not going to honor their [homeowner] policies.” Continue reading “Dear Mr President We Still Have Insurance Problems: Gene Taylor Writes a Letter to the Prez”

Dear Mr President: A Cresent City Ray guest post. Cat 5 Rally Announced

Cresent City Ray sent in both the annoucment of the Cat 5 rally and a guest post thus the balance of this entry is courtesy of our friend Ray. (Gene has the insurance thing covered in the next post).

Flier_imageDear New Orleanians,

Let’s make the best of this opportunity Thursday. Please consider attending or inviting others to attend the:

Cat 5 Now! Coastal Restoration Now! Rally

Thursday 9 am -10 am, between Jackson Square & the mighty Mississippi River

Invite schools, friends, neighbors and the press.
Download the rally flier here:

http://www.crescentcityrecovery.com/

Thanks for any help making this happen.

Tell President Obama Continue reading “Dear Mr President: A Cresent City Ray guest post. Cat 5 Rally Announced”

What Can Happen When One Honest Judge Takes on a Giant Corporation

Justin Maxon / The New York Times
Justin Maxon / The New York Times

Bam Bam readers know my feelings about this great man, Judge Jed S. Rakoff, a federal district court judge in Manhattan. Because Judge Rakoff’s bench is located at the epicenter of corporate greed on planet earth, he’s uniquely positioned to effect real change. It would be so easy to give in to Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and their pack of vampire lawyers who’ve damn near bankrupted the best government system humankind ever conceived.

The case in Judge Rakoff’s court is SEC v. Bank of America (BofA). A month ago, SEC and BofA concocted a phony settlement proposal and wheeled it out to Judge Rakoff. The SEC agreed to drop its case against BofA and its sub Merrill Lynch, which admitted no wronging, and close the investigation forever, if BofA paid the nano fine of $33 million. Judge Rakoff sniffed out the fraud, called them out, and refused to approve the so-called “settlement.” This sent the thieves and their lawyers into a tizzy. Rakoff wanted facts, names and dates concerning why BofA and Merrill concealed material facts on giant exec bonuses from shareholders, lied in certified proxy statements filed under SEC law, and purposefully understated Merrill Lynch’s financial condition by $20 billion. All this occurred in connection with BofA getting federal bail out funds, used by BofA to purchase Merrill last year. The BofA tab at present = $45 BILLION.

BofA and its New York power lawyers decided to dig in, invoke lawyer-client privilege, and lock the court out of critical documents. Congress jumped in and called for hearings, looking for a quickie PR boost with BofA shareholder/voters . (See previous Slabbed post on Edolphus Towns’ committee hearings).

Last Friday something tangible happened. The Board of Directors of BofA voted to abandon the lawyer-client privilege argument and cooperate in providing information. Continue reading “What Can Happen When One Honest Judge Takes on a Giant Corporation”

Some friends are in the news today

Long Beach resident Kevin Buckel and United Policyholders executive director Amy Bach to be specific. Kevin’s website details his thus far fruitless pursuit of a statutory Policyholder Bill of Rights for Mississippians. It has been blocked in committee in the Senate by Sen. Eugene “Buck” Clarke, a GOP free market true believer over at the Big Rock Candy Mountain in Jackson.

We’ve also chronicaled Mr Buckel’s efforts at fostering transparency at the Mississippi Department of Insurance as he has taken our current Commish to court after the claims files used in the sham Market Conduct Study began under Mr Chaney’s predecessor turned insurance lobbyist George Dale as overseen by former Deputy Commish Lee Harrell who now works for State Farm law firm Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell and Berkowitz. Mr Chaney has thus far successfully stonewalled those efforts. Anita Lee picks up more recent events here:

A Coast policyholder is appealing to the state Supreme Court for access to Mississippi Insurance Department records that would show the dollar amount of Katrina claims denied by insurance companies.

Long Beach policyholder Kevin Buckel filed a written request in January 2009 for records showing the total amount of damages homeowners claimed, the total amount paid and the total amount denied by private property insurance companies. MID maintains the agency does not have the records.

United Policyholders of America is helping Buckel fund the appeal. Continue reading “Some friends are in the news today”