[zarf]

Brought to you by the guys who are going to save us during a nuculer attack.

Duck and cover.

[Cicero]

I've been thinking that maybe the solution would be to abolish FEMA. Then accountability would be put where it belongs, on the first responders.

If it's a huge emergency, the feds can do what they've always done: send in the national guard and send in federal aid funds.

What will they do now? Spend another couple of billion investigating the corruption? They won't get any of the money back, and they won't fire any of the bureaucrats who screwed up, because they all have lifetime employment.

[Richard Kimball]

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. In the midst of complaining about slow Federal response, our congress is now complaining about emergency relief going to people who didn't deserve it or abused it. Just a quick question. You've got 30,000 refugees in the Astrodome, many of whom have no identification, and some of whom have been wearing the same clothes for four days. How do you distribute aid without delay, while ensuring that everyone who received aid deserved it? Also, after you give someone emergency funds in the form of a $2,000 credit card, even if they were eligible, how do you make sure they spend it on what they should, instead of getting a tattoo?

[Bob]

Damned if you do; damned if you don't. Take your pick of which headline you'd prefer:

Massive fraud found in FEMA disbursements

or

Massive bureaucracy delayed payments to Katrina victims

Any mechanism that would have been effective in preventing fraud by those who didn't qualify for the aid would have caused huge delays in getting money to those who did.

[goldstategop]

And there those who say our government is devoid of compassion. Nah. Not after reading this account of your government's generosity with your money towards those in need.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[snakedriver]

"Once again, FEMA failed to adequately plan for the very type of disaster that occurs virtually every year," said Susan Collins, R-Maine

Uh, yeah. A major US city is nearly wiped off the map virtually every year.

[t2buckeye]

So...the news media INSISTED that the feds do something...ANYTHING for these people.SO, they buy trailers thinking that these people will be happy to have them...instead, no one wants to stay in them..Money, without any accountability, was given to alleviate suffering...and of course was abused. So now the press...who hyped the story and demanded action NOW show that what they were pushing was ineffectual and wasteful..
Isn't it wonderful to be in the press...they get to ignore their OWN mistakes and their complicity in this mess while lambasting the people who made decisions BASED on their faulty, hysterical reporting.

[Lizavetta]

Don't worry......they'll do a much better job when they're running our health care.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Is it too late to cash in? A large gust of wind blew over a bird feeder on my property a few weeks ago. That should be good for a check from the FedGov for $10,000.

[Doc Savage]

Ok, one last time:

1. Anyone who chooses to live below sea level; anyone who chooses to live in a coastal area subject to high tides, hurricanes, and floods; anyone who lives in a mobile home in Oklahoma; anyone who lives within 500 miles of an active volcano; anyone who lives on or near a major quake fault deserves exactly what they get.

Conversely, they do not deserve MY MONEY! Let these morons buy insurance and FEND FOR THEMSELVES!

These same nitwits and mutants will rebuild in the same place, they will be hit again and again, and we will have to listen to their whining and begging for money!

Not a penny! Suck it up a-holes and fend for yourselves!

[manwiththehands]

BUSH'S FAULT!

(it really is)

[F16Fighter]

The [US] government squandered millions of dollars...

Doing what they do best...besides BSing their constituencies.

[PerConPat]

Senators decried the problems.

Well, sure they did. What else are the useless bustards capable of, with few exceptions? The Katrina debacle is nothing more or less than another example of the infection brought on by generations of government concern and care for those who have made a living out of being less fortunate.

And since waste is promoted at the federal level, why should anyone be surprised that milking the government cash cow is now often the national pastime for the well-to-do as well as for the downtrodden? Katrina's aftermath is but another superb example of why responsibility for society's well-being should always rest with the individual and the the closest form of government possible.

Was it Mark Twain who stated that you get a society full of fools when you try to create a foolproof society?

[lawgirl]

*sigh*

[kcvl]

10,777 trailers that were stuck in mud and unusable

They are not 'unusable'.

They are stuck in Hope, Arkansas because the stupid politicians in Louisiana don't want them in their backyard. To *ell with the people who need them!

the mayor and City Council can't seem to get beyond politics as they continue to argue over where the trailers should go. In the meantime, thousands are in need of the trailers.

Too many politicians and residents saying: "NIMBY - NOT IN MY BACKYARD!"

In its search for places to put them, the agency has run into two roadblocks: a lack of basic services such as water, sewers and electricity, and the not-in-my-backyard attitude of many residents who don’t want their communities turned into giant trailer parks.

[kcvl]

Same thing in Alabama...

A police officer patrols a row of travel trailers at a Federal Emergency Management Agency staging area on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2005, in Selma, Ala. The federal government is acquiring temporary homes for victims of Hurricane Katrina far faster than it can distribute them, with more than 9,000 campers and mobile homes now sitting empty at staging areas awaiting delivery.

Not only did the LOUISIANA politicians fail the citizens of N.O. before, during and after Katrina, they are still failing to get their **** together! All they know how to do is stick their hand out for MONEY. Actual HELP can't be embezzled but CASH can be spent on ANYTHING they WANT such as remodeling the GOVERNOR'S MANSION or rebuilding Landrieu's lake home.

[StoneColdTaxHater]

This is what you get from the gov't. It isn't just RATS & RINOS either. Every last one of these S.O.B's is crooked.

[Night Hides Not]

FEMA also may have bought too many temporary homes, including 10,777 units that currently sit empty in sinking mud in Hope, Ark.

How could I ever forget--the hometown of Bill Clinton!