Wednesday, June 14, 2006

What an unrestricted present from FEMA will buy you

From CNN:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A $200 bottle of champagne from Hooters and $300 worth of "Girls Gone Wild" videos were among items bought with debit cards handed out by FEMA to help hurricane victims, auditors probing $1 billion in potential waste and fraud have found.

The cards -- given to people displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita -- also bought diamond jewelry and a vacation in the Dominican Republic, according to the Government Accountability Office audit.

The GAO uncovered records showing that $1,000 from a FEMA debit card went to a Houston divorce lawyer; $600 was spent in a strip club and $400 was spent on "adult erotica products," all of which auditors concluded were "not necessary to satisfy legitimate disaster needs."

(snip)

I had a friend of mine who diaried and chronicled his escape which was harrowing, expensive and just unbelievable. He's STILL fighting for legitimate money for cleanup for his home and is living in a FEMA trailer in his yard. Obviously there's going to be misuse, but on the scale that is alleged is almost unbelievable.

For some reason it reminds me of the line from comedian Jeff Foxworthy: "You can't give Rednecks money." But that was more geared at garish taste in decor, a la concrete deer in the front yard.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Woo hoo! Socialism rocks!