In the aftermath of Katrina it wasn't an unusual situation that FEMA arrived a few days after the hurricane and subsequent flooding of New Orleans. In most natural disasters that occur it does take a few days for the feds to get there; ask anyone that has been affected by a major earthquake, fire or flood. Early stages of disaster relief and recovery always belong to the local officials, period. (Not going down that rabbit trail right now.)
But this latest act of FEMA needed to, and indeed now is being investigated. Perhaps this is cronyism or FEMA felt pressured by the MSM, or whatever (insert your own conspiracy theory here). But this Carnival Cruise Line sodomizing of the American taxpayer I hope will be the straw that breaks the political backs of FEMA.
In listening to Sean Hannity's radio show yesterday, he ran down a list of what the expenses could be to house the same number of evacuees in different circumstances. Carnival's deal with FEMA came to an ungodly figure of $236 million dollars. This same housing and care for the evacuees could have been done for a fraction of that cost; a cost as low as $1 million. Actions such as these done by our federal government have to have consequences.
Although I have supported the Bush administration for the most part, this is another one of those issues that has me questioning the Republican Party. If we find out that it was cronyism I highly doubt any of us would be surprised. Cronyism is not a Republican problem, it's a bipartisan problem. Clinton appointed many of his friends to positions and pardoned a record number of individuals just days before he left the White House.
Fortunately many of the short comings of the Bush administration are being addressed by the party and it's looking like we have some excellent choices on the table for '08. I just wish the Dem's would do the same, a healthy two-party system is what's best for our nation.
Technorati Tag FEMA
Posted by Stacy at October 13, 2005 11:37 AM | TrackBackWelcome to the Libertarian Party, Stacy.
Actually, I'm not kidding. I'm switching, officially. I cannot rely on the Republicans any longer. Bush is a spending freak. Republicans are spineless. Bush's latest Supreme Court nominee is a joke. Republicans don't know what to do with power. They're spineless weenies who actually take the anti-Repub bumper stickers they see seriously.
So yes, I intend to begin throwing my vote away by voting for the Libertarian candidates. And God willing, if America lasts another 230 years, enough people will have stood on principle to make a change.
Posted by: Admin Worm at October 13, 2005 12:07 PMYea, I'm finding myself doing quite a bit of head nodding when I listen to Michael Savage these days.
Posted by: Stacy at October 13, 2005 12:12 PMUnfortunately, Savage is on a station that doesn't come in too well here. I love his show. God almighty, he's just brutal. Not an apologist for anyone, unlike certain other talk show hosts, no names mentioned Rush.
Posted by: Admin Worm at October 13, 2005 12:29 PMI quit listening to Rush long before his little drug problem. He was just too arrogant for me. Even Hannity bothers me from time to time. Laura Ingraham is a goddess, Dennis Prager is spectacular and Hugh Hewitt is smart, funny and usually arrogance free.
Posted by: Stacy at October 13, 2005 12:34 PMWell, you're partial to Laura 'cuz you're a similarly gorgeous female conservative. Throw Ann Coulter into the mix, and...well...
Anyway, I like Rush. There's no better communicator. I've just grown a bit disenchanted, given that he's basically a shill for Bush lately.
Hannity is just a Rush clone. My radio internship involved running the board during his syndicated show, and boy was I glad that was over after 90 days. I hated the host I worked for, but he did a great Hannity impression.
We have some good local hosts here. too.
Posted by: Admin Worm at October 13, 2005 12:54 PMAW, I can't switch to the Libertarian Party, though I am, at heart a libertarian. At this point, any vote removed from the Republicans increases the likelihood of a Democrat victory. Besides that, the LP has yet to field a candidate for Pres that I could support, other than Harry Browne. And at local levels, they're just to freakin' weird.
Stacy, I agree that the money pissed away is a travesty. But the part of the story I didn't hear from Hannity yesterday is that although FEMA contracted for space for a much larger number of people, and Carnival apparently offered a price that was revenue neutral, most of the folks intended for those boats said hell no, we won't go. Having just escaped death-by-hurricane, few were keen to take up residence on a boat. So I would certainly condemn FEMA for foolishness, but cut Carnival some slack -- they're capitalists, after all, not mindless fucking altruists.
Anyway, as Harry Browne said years ago, "No one ever lost money betting against the American government."
Posted by: Bill at October 13, 2005 01:25 PMBill, you're so frickin funny, thanks for the laugh. I guess I checked out too many left slanted blogs posting on this. LOL!!!
Posted by: Stacy at October 13, 2005 01:35 PMAlways happy to give you a laugh, Stacy. ;)
But fair is fair, and FEMA is the sole culprit here, in my view. Who, after all, employs more incompetents per capita than the Fed Gov?
Posted by: Bill at October 13, 2005 01:55 PMLibertarian?!?! They don't really believe anything at all, sort of like Unitarians. They might as well adopt Alistair Crowley's old motto: Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Stacy, you're far too intelligent to actually believe/follow their nonsense.
Posted by: Jeff H at October 13, 2005 08:40 PMJeff you’re too harsh. Libertarians are simply dope smoking conservatives.
All joking aside Stacy, you should give Rush an ear again. Since rehab he got good again. He is as funny and irreverent as he was in the '90s.
Actually, libertarians (note the small L, please) are a good deal more conservative than Republicans, or those who class themselves as simple conservative these days. A real libertarian considers most of what the FedGov meddles in to be unconstitutional.
Posted by: Bill at October 14, 2005 12:57 PM