Good Old American Government for You

[Jersay]

12,000 Katrina evacuee families face eviction from hotels Monday
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

at 19:23 on February 11, 2006, EST.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Twelve thousand families left homeless by last year's Gulf Coast storms will lose their U.S. government-funded hotel privileges Monday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Saturday.

This will be the second wave of evacuees weaned off the federally sponsored hotel stays within two weeks. Last week, the occupants of roughly 4,500 rooms lost FEMA funding for failing to register with the agency.

FEMA said it would continue to pay for families in 5,000 hotel rooms across the country.

Of those departing Monday, FEMA officials said 10,500 families, or 88 per cent, have received rent-assistance cheques from the agency, said Libby Turner, FEMA's transitional housing director. The cash can be used to pay for an apartment or to continue their hotel stays. It can also be put toward fixing their ruined homes.

Because they can continue to pay for the rooms themselves, the deadline is not "the equivalent of an eviction," she said.

"This is just about the billing of the room - it will no longer be billed to FEMA."

Yet 1,100 families living in the subsidized hotel rooms are not eligible for further assistance from FEMA. Turner said those evacuees have been referred to other charitable programs.

One of them is Brittany Brown, 21, currently staying on the 13th floor of the New Orleans Crowne Plaza hotel, a floor packed with storm victims. She and her husband have moved from hotel to hotel, all the while waiting for their FEMA trailer to arrive. They want to park the trailer in front of their ruined home so they can begin rebuilding.

With the Monday deadline looming, she turned to FEMA asking for rent assistance. Brown was told it would take two weeks to review her case, leaving her without a trailer, without an apartment and soon without a hotel room.

She plans to move into her sister's house - along with her husband, uncle and two children. It will bring her sister's two-bedroom household to 10 people.

http://start.shaw.ca/start/enCA/News/WorldNewsArticle.htm?src=w021157A.xml

Yeah, that is good, kick out some people who survived a Hurricane. What an excellent government, fend for yourself.

 

[Curiosity]

Jersay - I realize you prefer to write about the cruel treatment of victims by the U.S. government - but the victims have been victimized by some of their own too.

You might want to Google all the fraud perpetuated on FEMA during the after Katrina tragedy. Here is one article - even some employees of FEMA have committed fraud. This was an apple tree too ripe not to pick.

www.nytimes.com

Auditors Find Huge Fraud in FEMA Aid

By ERIC LIPTON
Published: February 11, 2006
WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 — Thousands of applicants for federal emergency relief money after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita used duplicate or invalid Social Security numbers or bogus addresses, suggesting that the $2.3 billion program was a victim of extensive fraud, a Congressional auditor will report Monday.

The examination of the so-called Expedited Assistance program determined that the Federal Emergency Management Agency failed to take even the most basic steps to confirm the identifies of about 1.4 million people who sought expedited cash assistance, leaving the program vulnerable to the "significant fraud and abuse," the Government Accountability Office intends to report.

The auditors did not try to estimate the total dollar amount of fraudulent claims. But the report says that FEMA itself had found that 900,000 of the 2.5 million applications for all forms of individual assistance were "potential duplicates."

Even when FEMA's automated computer system picked out what might be fraudulent applications, payments were at times still sent, says the advance testimony of Gregory D. Kutz, the managing director of the G.A.O.'s forensic audits unit.

The controls were so lax that auditors were able to secure their own $2,000 relief check by using "falsified identifies, bogus addresses and fabricated disaster stories," and then simply waiting for the money to arrive in the mail, says the report for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times.

Nicol Andrews, a FEMA spokeswoman, said the agency recognized there could be fraud. But Ms. Andrews said the priority was getting aid as fast as possible to hundreds of thousands of families in dire need.

"We took a calculated risk in a catastrophic situation," she said. "It was the right thing to do. Unfortunately, some may have cheated the system."

She added that some arrests have been made. The agency is also suspending payments to people suspected of trying to cheat the system.

Still, the auditors found signs of fraud nearly everywhere:

¶Nearly half of the 11,000 individuals who received special debit cards as payment — an approach used in the immediate aftermath of the storm in Texas — got a second $2,000 payment in emergency aid.

¶Inspections of 200 properties in Texas and Louisiana listed as home addresses turned up 80 that were vacant lots or nonexistent apartments.

¶More than half of a group of 248 other applicants had used Social Security numbers that were never issued, belonged to dead people or did not match the name provided.

In one case, auditors found 17 individuals, some with the same last name and addresses, who used 34 bogus Social Security numbers to collect more than $103,000 in payments.

Auditors found isolated instances where the electronic debit cards were used to pay for "adult entertainment," a .45-caliber handgun, jewelry or bail bond services.

 

[gopher]

That isn't the only brand of fraud committed by the nitwits in the White House and their minions. There's plenty going on in Iraq as well:




Billions Stolen From Iraq?

Some $8.8 billion dispersed for reconstruction efforts in Iraq is unaccounted for, says the U.S. official in charge of tracing it.

02/09/06 "CBS" -- -- For a report to be broadcast this Sunday, Feb. 12, at 7 p.m. ET/PT,

60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft investigates the billions spent on reconstruction-related work, particularly money paid to a contractor, Custer Battles, now being sued for fraud.

Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, says $8.8 billion is unaccounted for because oversight on the part of the Coalition Provisional Authority, the entity governing Iraq after the war, "was relatively nonexistent."

The former number two man at the Coalition's transportation ministry, Frank Willis, concurs. "I would describe [the accounting system] as nonexistent." Without a financial infrastructure, checks and money transfers were not possible, so the Coalition kept billions in cash to pay for its multitude of projects. "Fresh, new, crisp, unspent, just-printed $100 bills. It was the Wild West," says Willis.

Such an atmosphere made it possible for billions to go missing and companies to defraud the Coalition. Custer Battles, a company quickly formed after the war to get reconstruction contracts, goes on trial next week, accused in a whistleblower suit by an ex-employee of bilking the U.S. government out of $50 million.

"[Custer Battles] wanted to open fraudulent companies overseas and inflate their invoices to the U.S. government," says the ex-employee, Robert Isakson. He says he refused to go along with the scheme and "two weeks later, apparently I heard they began exactly the fraud they described to me," he tells Kroft.

Willis remembers Custer Battles, which was formed by former Army Ranger Scott Custer and a failed congressional candidate, Mike Battles, who claimed to be active in the Republican party and have connections to the White House. "They came in with a can-do attitude, whether they could or not," he says. "They were not experienced. They didn’t know what they were doing," says Willis.

They nevertheless got contracts and their work quickly drew complaints. "They failed miserably," says Col. Richard Ballard of a $16.8 million contract Custer Battles got to secure the Baghdad Airport. Col. Ballard, the inspector general for the Army in Iraq at the time, says the company failed to provide the X-ray equipment required by the contract.

"These were multi-million-dollar devices for which they received a considerable cash advance so that they could procure them, and then they never procured this equipment," says Col. Ballard. On a bomb-sniffing dog and trainer Custer Battles did procure, Col. Ballard says, "I think it was a guy and his pet, to be honest with you," he tells Kroft. The Colonel noted that the dog "would refuse to sniff the vehicles."

In a memo obtained by 60 Minutes, the airport’s director of security wrote to the Coalition: "Custer Battles has shown themselves to be unresponsive, uncooperative, incompetent, deceitful, manipulative and war profiteers. Other than that, they are swell fellows."

Instead of removing Custer Battles, the Coalition praised them and continued to give them contracts. One of those contracts involved procuring trucks for moving cash around the country – some of which were inoperative and had to be delivered via tow truck. "I don’t really know [how they got away with it]," says British Col. Philip Wilkinson, to whom the trucks were delivered. "The assumption that we had was that they had to have high political top cover...," Col. Wilkinson tells Kroft.

Custer and Battles are now under federal investigation and declined to be interviewed. But in taped depositions, they disavowed any knowledge of fraudulent invoices outlined in the lawsuit.


http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11856.htm

 

[Sassylassie]

Gopher; you might want to keep your eyes peeled on your driveway for a dark sadan with four men in suits in it. Home-land Security has a lot of power these days.

 

[Jo Canadian]

 

[neallo]

RE: Good Old American Gov

maybe instead of staying in a hotel and waiting for the government to help them through life, step by step, they should go out and get a job. as i recall, most of those people are fat black people on welfare

 

[neallo]

RE: Good Old American Gov

nar i'm not racist. if they were white i would have said the same thing. i find it funny that when a diaster happens people always point the finger to the government. they knew the storm was coming and they didn't leave. car or no car i'd be walking. also, i keep cash in the bank. now maybe you forgot or didnt hear about it. but a redneck town was hit just as bad as the rest of louisianna. but what was different about them was instead of waiting for the governemt, then got off their asses, got the comunity together and figured things out on their own. they were responsible and i respect them for that.

now how long has it been? and your telling that they couldnt have found a job. why, because they depend on the government. they have now and always will.

Islamophobe no, reliophobe or cleriophobe or anti organized church. anyone that uses their "faith" to do their dirty work, goes on my hate list. i dont care what color they are. discovery of the new world? natives declared that those who don't convert are infedels and thus killed. we lost lots of good, smart civilasations because of it and it kills me. islam, jews, christians they are all the same. they are all power hungry bastards that corrupt a lot of fine ppl, expecially the kids. it kills me, it really does

 

[Jersay]

I apologize then.

Really like your last part.

 

[neallo]

RE: Good Old American Gov

atm our social system needs work. i sand hardwood floors for the vacant and occupied units. now check out this waste of money.

located at downtown ottawa, china town area

3 storey house and 3 years old as well. monthly rent $148

the tenants left 3 big dovermans in that house for 1 week straight. when the ottawa workers opened the door they couldn't walk anywhere there was so much poo and pee.

the solution, ripout the floors and the based boards to the house. the poo and pee had soaked throught the wood.

they had to re-do everything. buying the just the wood, the cheapest out there cost $2700. they still needed new tiles for the kitchen, carpet for the stairs, new appliances everything had to be redone. who paid? taxpayers. you know how much food one could buy with the money spent on that one building?

what about the countless places where the tenants have new stainless steel appliances, leather couches and big screen t.v.s?

get this. a couple lives on welfare. they have two kids. one is always into trouble and is usually at a house for bad kids( not sure what its called and its not juv) the other, same age as me 18-19 white female. she gets $400 a month for welfare. the stepfather makes the same amount as my dad (who's not on welfare) and his girlfriend makes the same, if not more than my dad. my step mom, doesnt work. (she has a steel plate in her back) do the math

you see where i'm coming from? beat you dont hear about that in the papers.

now about the cockroach infestation in the appartment buildings. this one hurt me. the guy is clearly sick in the head. 60-70 years old maybe older. hasnt done the dishes in i dont know how long, hasnt cleaned his counters of food in i dont know how long. he leaving the appartment he went to bring his cat with him and tried to stuff the cat into a bag. so after he left, we started sanding the floor, half way done, who shows up? bed bug exterminators. and god knows what else was in that apparement.

i have only been working for 4 months and this is what i have seen already. do you see my point of veiw? am i not knowledgable to know that many people abuse the system?

i

 

[Jersay]

Okay, I see your point. Sorry again.

 

[neallo]

RE: Good Old American Gov

apology accepted. if i sound bad, i'm sorry. i'm just fustrated with whats going on around me. and hear i can ventilate. i also like feeling the enlightment

 

[Jersay]

apology accepted. if i sound bad, i'm sorry. i'm just fustrated with whats going on around me. and hear i can ventilate. i also like feeling the enlightment

You do raise some very good points. So I guess the system should be changed.

 

[darkbeaver]

Re: RE: Good Old American Gov

nar i'm not racist. if they were white i would have said the same thing. i find it funny that when a diaster happens people always point the finger to the government. they knew the storm was coming and they didn't leave. car or no car i'd be walking. also, i keep cash in the bank. now maybe you forgot or didnt hear about it. but a redneck town was hit just as bad as the rest of louisianna. but what was different about them was instead of waiting for the governemt, then got off their asses, got the comunity together and figured things out on their own. they were responsible and i respect them for that.

now how long has it been? and your telling that they couldnt have found a job. why, because they depend on the government. they have now and always will.

Islamophobe no, reliophobe or cleriophobe or anti organized church. anyone that uses their "faith" to do their dirty work, goes on my hate list. i dont care what color they are. discovery of the new world? natives declared that those who don't convert are infedels and thus killed. we lost lots of good, smart civilasations because of it and it kills me. islam, jews, christians they are all the same. they are all power hungry bastards that corrupt a lot of fine ppl, expecially the kids. it kills me, it really does

Nice to hear that something is killing you. :lol: The pain of being you must be real bad. :lol:

 

[EagleSmack]

I live in New England. After Katrina they sent a bunch of evacuees to the Cape and they stayed at the AF Base free of charge. After a few months the Boston paper decided to follow them around. They would go and wait outside the liquor store and booze at the bus stops. They would visit strip clubs and bars. All on US Taxpayer money.

The city of Houston just released a stat that was stunning. Twenty Five percent of all murders in Houston since Katrina have been committed by Katrina evacuees.

People... this was a bad lot of folks. Mother Nature spread the worse lot of people all over the country. Be thankful that Canada didn't open her arms to these folks.