And there lost of $1.4 Billion dollars I'm
wondering will we hear" You're doing a heck of
a job Micheal." Just before some Heads roll?
I'm not sure, but is Homeland Security run by the left
or the right?

Shows again why private charity is better. If they waste $1.4 billion you can stop giving. They know that. But we can't stop giving to FEMA. And they know that.

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Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?

Outrage???

I remember just after Katrina when the OUTRAGE from the left was...."Give these people the money....and FAST." I heard nothing about taking your time to be sure they were qualified and really victims.

So now.....as most of us knew there would be.....we hear of some fraud. Surprise, surprise! I told you that the morning they were lining up around the Houston Astrodome for the "free money" and the line kept building....and building....and building. I told my husband that morning...."Those aren't all Katrina victims."

Well, sure enough they weren't. The people who were condemning the administration and FEMA were pushing them to act FAST. So, if you were one of them you don't have any room to complain now.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

if you want something really bad, that's usually how you get it

FEMA & SBA are encouraged by politicians at the highest levels to expedite the disbursement of funds. so they do ... often taking shortcuts eliminating the prudent standards which would otherwise be followed. Congress and the President want the money in circulation to stimulate the afflicted community's economy at least as much as they want to aid the recovery efforts of the disaster victims.
an example is the issuance of $2000 checks to every resident located in the 90210 zip code after the Northridge earthquake (Clinton administration). do you really think every Beverly Hills resident needed that federal money? this was the forerunner of the debit card giveaway in the gulf.

presently $7B in SBA disaster loans have been approved but only $0.5B has been disbursed. without checking further it would appear the agency was not doing a good job of funding its loans -- but just the opposite would be true. the borrowers/disaster victims have to obtain building permits and flood insurance to make sure the disaster loan funds are properly used. the delay is caused by local officials being unwilling or unable to issue permits and define present flood zones.

the point is, these agencies are criticized for being too slow to disburse funds and then when they are required to take shortcuts to overcome the ensuing political pressure they again face criticism for not assuring the funds were properly spent. its a no-win situation for the federal agencies as long as the politicians expect to have it both ways.

the real calamity is that those same politicians ignore the real problems at the SBA, which sells its disaster loans at a discount, recovering 18 cents on the dollar (before further reducing the amount taxpayer dollars recovered by enormous consultant and transaction fees). Large financial institutions buy those loans and then impose conditions on the borrowers which were not considered when the loans originated at SBA, subjecting them to higher fees, interest rates and in some cases, foreclosure. Effectively, the agency exposes the victims to further exploitation by the financial houses which want to quickly turn a profit from the assets they just bought on the cheap from SBA.

wake up America!

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"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left."
Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV)

Can you provide evidence that this a call from the left. I believe the outrage was leaving people in deplorable conditions in the middle of a cesspool in the astrodome. I believe the outrage was a lack of a federal response to assist in providing temporary shelter to evacuees. I don't recall personally a big call for give them all free money. In fact, at the time I thought it was a stupid idea and still do.

The astrodome... that's in Houston.

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"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left."
Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV)

i'm sure the businessmen who shifted $1.2bn worth goods are not complaining.

The penatagon cannot account for $10bn in Iraqi reconstruction money, and the phoney-cons just shrug their shoulders.

meh

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I have something to hide.

Yes, it was the Bush hating group. It was the ones criticizing FEMA for everything at the time. It was the ones saying, Fema was not reacting fast enough. MOST of us realized that in such a catastrophe, it wouldn't be "fast." But because of all the criticisms, FEMA promised to expedite the $2000 checks and debit cards to the victims. Problem with doing it fast, is that there WILL be sleazy people taking advantage. Even some true victims sent more than one family member around to get the $2000 a second time. They think it's "free government money." IMHO, they should be pursued and made to pay it back and possibly spend some time in jail.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

Where is the conservative outrage of far more money stolen in Iraq? The issues are similiar, those who are concerned about a larger cause ignore or rationalize theft that they feel is justified or inevitiable to achieve that goal.

Its always amusing hearing conservative fantasies about what the "left" demanded. Particularly when they can't provide any evidence they did. The reality is that the US public, including Republicans, demanded that something be done quickly about the problem. Given that, and given the sad administrative state of FEMA these days, corruption was likely. They should fix FEMA and go after the corrupt people.

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Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away