Posted on 06/13/2008 8:19:41 AM PDT by BGHater
FEMA gave away about $85 million in household goods meant for Hurricane Katrina victims, a CNN investigation has found.
The material, from basic kitchen goods to sleeping necessities, sat in warehouses for two years before the Federal Emergency Management Agency's giveaway to federal and state agencies this year.
James McIntyre, FEMA's acting press secretary, said that FEMA was spending more than $1 million a year to store the material and that another agency wanted the warehouses torn down, so "we needed to vacate them."
"Upon review of our assets and our need to continue to store them, we determined that they were excess to FEMA's needs; therefore, they are being excessed from FEMA's inventory," McIntyre wrote in an e-mail.
He declined a request for an on-camera interview, telling CNN the giveaway was "not news."
Photos from one of the facilities in Fort Worth, Texas, show pallet after pallet of cots, cleansers, first-aid kits, coffee makers, camp stoves and other items stacked to the ceiling.
FEMA said some of the items were donations from companies after Katrina, but most were purchased in the field as "starter kits" for people living in trailers provided by the agency. And even though the stocks were offered to state agencies after FEMA decided to get rid of them, one of the states that passed was Louisiana.
Martha Kegel, the head of a New Orleans nonprofit agency that helps find homes for those still displaced by the storm, said she was shocked to learn about the existence of the goods and the government giveaway.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I wonder how many Father’s Day cards I will get from the 2 or 3 million “Katrina victims” I took on to raise for the rest of there lives. Maybe the “looter guy” will at least send me a six pack.
It’d be all skunky by now.
I have a problem with the juxtaposition of the words “Katrina” and “victims”.
By all means let the gubermint run our healthcare system.
Hey, cheer up! After all, these are the people who want to run our healthcare system and now, according to Maxine Waters, will also be supplying our gas once they’ve confiscated Exxon/Mobil, et al. So cheer up. THESE are the good old days. The worst of times are yet to come.
The State of Louisiana was offered the goods and they turned them down(prior to Jindal).
Now the State acts all surprised. Is this going to be Bush’s fault, too?
What I want to know is, where is all the support for the Iowans whose levees broke and they are now flooded. No FEMA, no President visiting, no Geraldo Riviera or Shep Smith in hysterics.
Oh yeah, the people in Cedar Rapids must be the wrong color.
So I guess these morons have never heard of stockpiling for the next big natural disaster to his this country?
and what is FEMA going to do for those effected by the floods in the midwest, probably nothing
With FEMA giving away Katrina supplies and Friends of New Orleans spending their non-profit money on a big Democrat Convention Gala, we can say New Orlean's recovery is complete!
Yay! Pathetic “victims forever” bump!
Stop right there! After 3 years of freebies they should be working and supporting themselves.
Oh yeah, the people in Cedar Rapids must be the wrong color.
you nailed it.
I saw an article here yesterday saying that Exxon Mobile was getting out of the retail gas industry here in the US
Has anyone else seen or heard anything further on this??
Sure - and these (the Feds) are the people that the Demoncrats want to manage our health care industry.
My town was under water last weekend in Indiana, we are still cleaning and waiting for FEMA to show up. I wonder how much of this old stuff will be shipped our way?
And, no doubt, the same problem describing as victims those affected by the current flooding in the Midwest.
FEMA confirmed that it had kept the merchandise in storage for the past two years and then gave it away to cities, schools, fire departments and nonprofit agencies such as food banks.I don't see a problem with who they gave it to and the only charity group that is complaining about not being offered these supplies was not even registered with FEMA so IMHO, they have no standing in the matter.
“Victimology” ends at a certain point.
No doubt.
Yes, they are gradually selling off their company owned stations so they are no longer directly involved in retail sales of fuel.
They will still get paid by stations for using their name, and they will still supply fuel to stations.
Thanks for the info. Kind of curious that this isn’t making headlines in the news, at least not that I’ve seen
Do you remember how they threw a fit because they did not want to be called 'refugees'. I think Jesse Jackson or one of his minions declared that offensive.
“With FEMA giving away Katrina supplies and Friends of New Orleans spending their non-profit money on a big Democrat Convention Gala, we can say New Orlean’s recovery is complete!”
The Friends of New Orleans part of this statement appears to not be true. The initial report on this by the Denver Post has been corrected. They are not a financial sponsor of that event. They have fundraisers planned for both conventions. See below.
June 6: Correction in the Denver Post regarding FONO participation at the DNC
The Denver Post article “Host Committee Slashes DNC Party Venues,” inaccurately portrays Friends of New Orleans (FONO) as being a financial sponsor of the Delegate Party planned for the Democratic National Convention. Friends of New Orleans, a private, non-profit, non-partisan, membership organization for people in the U.S. and abroad who care about the region, is not now and never was a financial sponsor of the event. The event, which is being held at the Colorado Convention Center on Sunday, August 24 in Denver, Colorado, is being sponsored by the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee. Acknowledging the inaccuracy, The Denver Post updated its article at 12:31 p.m. MDT. In addition, the Democratic National Convention Committee issued a statement clarifying its financial commitment for the event.
Since its inception in 2006, FONO has been instrumental in keeping the focus on rebuilding New Orleans and its surrounding parishes. To keep New Orleans and its issues post-hurricanes top-of-mind in an election year, FONO has planned benefit events at each of the two national conventions in Denver and St. Paul on August 24 and September 1 respectively. The purpose of these events is to highlight the local organizations working tirelessly to rebuild their homes and communities
Thanks for the info. Kind of curious that this isn’t making headlines in the news, at least not that I’ve seen
There were at least three threads on this topic yesterday. But the search engine isn’t working so I can’t tell you how to find them.
Thanks for the update, I missed it.
Well not really, it depends on what part of Cedar Rapids you are in! Shep and the gang should really be in East Waterloo that is their typical crowd.
“Do you remember how they threw a fit because they did not want to be called ‘refugees’. I think Jesse Jackson or one of his minions declared that offensive.”
For the racism industry, aka BigRacism, I think anything short of:
“PERMANENT victims of the white man’s oppression entitled to life-long governmental handouts”
would be deemed “offensive”.
Sure, they were hurt by the storm and the aftermath. Yes, the feds offered them help as they should have.
But since the event occurred, far too many of them have been sitting on their fat backsides waiting for the government to make it all better. Instead, they should have gotten off their duffs and put a little personal muscle into the recovery.
By the way, I'm including the NO local government in the count of fat backsides.
It doesn’t fit the mantra that big oil is making huge profits selling gasoline at higher than necessary prices.
Exxon/Mobil can’t win, of course.
Whatever they do is eeeeeevil!
This too is undoubtedly just another profit hiding scheme.
Rush is talking about this right now.
Rush is talking about it now
Sure could have used those supplies right now here in Cedar Rapids!!
You took the words out of my mouth. As I watch the horrible situation in Cedar Rapids unfold, I don’t hear any bitching, whining, complaining or see any palms out. I see orderly evacuations and have more feelings for these hard-working people who really have lost everything, stuff they paid for (not taxpayer-funded-government-provided stuff) than I could muster for the “victims” of Katrina (and this is coming from an ex-New Orlenian)...I lost stuff in Katrina but have never complained nor tried to milk the system to get money that I didn’t deserve.
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