Shocked. Absolutely stunned.

Really, is there anyone not working for the federal government who didn't see that this was going to happen?

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060613200009990001&ncid=NWS00010000000001

 

Government bureaucracies are susceptible to fraud? Noooooooooooo!

I'll blame Bush now and get it out of the way.

End of thread.

 

Up to $1.4 billion in fraudulent payments is stunning.

Pallister -- I know you're being sarcastic, but that's who is really to blame. Bush started this whole mess by appointing a cronie to head FEMA.

 

Still haven't got that humor thing nailed down, I see.

 

Someone's still cranky after a night of sleep, I see.

Back to the subject. No defending the appointment, but bureaucratic fraud and mismanagement, unlike Brownie, will never go away, regardless of who's running the show. Greed and incompetence are truly bipartisan.

Now I'll let this thread play out in its inevitable direction.

 

Being able to buy booze and Girls Gone Wild videos with your FEMA assistance check is what makes this country great.

 

There's a lot about government that simply doesn't work. It's unfortunate our elected officials spend their time bickering instead of fixing things.

 

surprisingly (to me, at least) congress actually has a good idea for how to start fixing this problem. the first step is to take FEMA out from under homeland security. as it is now, homeland security has no problem sucking money in and out of FEMA at will. but if FEMA is its own department, it will have a little more autonomy. i realize it was its own department before DHS came along, but it's obvious that this model has failed.

not that the reorganization would stop this kind of fraud, but it's a start.

 

I'll agree with that. But there comes a point when the senior leadership is so clueless that it damages the entire organization. That's when happened when Brownie took over.

I also realize there will always be some misuse of funds in any government endeavor and that the government will not get it all back. But just as stunning as the $1.4 billion figure is to me is the fact that it could be up to 16 percent of what was issued.

1-3 percent I could accept, but 16 percent is just plain criminal.

 

Right. Because, you know, you're not here desperately trying to push it into some sort of partisan argument. Noooooo, you're above all that, as proven by your two posts here.

 

At least you understand, Dog.