Wild Pitch


Compassionate Conservativism must mean "throw money at...your cronies, and the hell with the rest of 'em" because that's exactly what Team Bush has done overseas and at home:

The government awarded 70 percent of its contracts for Hurricane Katrina work without full competition, wasting hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in the process, says a House study released Thursday by Democrats.

The report, a comprehensive overview of government audits on Katrina contracting, found that out of $10.6 billion in contracts awarded after the storm last year, more than $7.4 billion were handed out with limited or no competitive bidding.

In addition, 19 contracts worth $8.75 billion were found to have wasted taxpayer money at least in part, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the report. It cited numerous instances of double-billing by contractors and cases of trailers meant as emergency housing sitting empty in Arkansas.

When Team Shrub, either Shrub-in-Chief himself, or one of his loyal courtiers/courtesans barks about "all the money" spent on recovery, they're LYING. The money might be ALLOCATED for recovery, but it's going into the grubby hands and fingers of contractors, some of whom quite honestly don't give a hoot in hell about the actual victims.

Now, to be fair, Greg Peters has defended the competency of one of the companies cited in the report--Red Stick's very own Shaw Group (and the article seems to confirm this)--by the way, DEFINITELY check out Greg's site if you haven't lately...wow (and yeah, I need to update it on my blog roll).

And...Da Po Blog has more on the money gaming--because that's what it is--a game, a sad joke, and an outrage. He reminds us, by the way, that it's highly likely that flood insurance payouts have been included in the "aid" package, as if that's some sort of charity, as opposed to FREAKING INSURANCE (and, as most victims of the disaster can probably attest, private insurers themselves often act as if they're dispensing charity...the bastards).

No, the whole sorry mess that is the administration's response to a natural disaster in EXTREME EASTERN LOUISIANA, MISSISSIPPI, and ALABAMA--and a criminal/civil LIABILITY in New Orleans (and their subsequent mess in dealing with the disaster Hurricane Rita wrought) speaks volumes: these clowns couldn't run a circus, much less the national government. They need to have their wings clipped, and their hands tied behind their back until competent leadership--hopefully--takes control in 2009.

I've said it before, but I'll repeat: it's been a LONG time since I've looked forward to getting older...but if aging is the biggest price I pay for the damage these clowns have done, it's a small price indeed.