FEMA gives away $85 million of supplies for Katrina victims

[sabra]

Source: CNN

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- 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."

...

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.

"These are exactly the items that we are desperately seeking donations of right now: basic kitchen household supplies," said Kegel, executive director of Unity of Greater New Orleans. "These are the very things that we are seeking right now. FEMA, in fact, refers homeless clients to us to house them. How can we house them if we don't have basic supplies?" Video

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/11/fema.giveaway/index.html

[truedelphi]

1. I'd like to do a good job on marching Brownie to the Hague.

Or at least marching him to our nation's eastern shore, and then putting him aboard a leaky raft.

And then pointing it to the direction of the Hague.

[ananda]

2. You have to remember that..

.. Bushinc never wanted to help the less
affluent Katrina survivors.

The idea all along was to gentrify the
city and turn it into a Disneyworld type
place.

[izquierdista]

3. They complain that government doesn't work

And when they get elected (or appointed) they do their best to prove it true!

[Raine1967]

4. Federal Emergency Management

means that they SHOULD be keeping things like cots in storage in case of another national disaster, no? So they aren't storing cots and blankets in case of an EMERGENCY???

I fear for our country if another Katrina happens. This is just astonishingly insane... criminally negligent insane.

[superconnected]

29. Yeah, but they don't give them to the people who need them anyway

Why keep supplied you aren't going to use?

Talk about mis-managment - or what I really believe this is, LIHOP.

[jwirr]

5. I will never be convinced that these people are ignorant enough to

do these kinds of things - it is deliberate abuse of power in order to destroy the helpless. This is also a crime - misappropriation of fonds.

[MissWaverly]

6. it was about the Dem gov Blanco

she refused to turn over her state to them, so they put the goods in storage, everything is political to them,
everything, and there were people who had just had their lives destroyed, their homes and everything they
knew and all Bushco could think about was R vs D and the Dem governor, that's all it comes down to for them.

[Binka]

7. They Are Vindictive Sociopaths! n/t

[MissWaverly]

8. yes, and the saddest thing is they believe the

country belongs to the ruling elite and the other 1% elite

[Binka]

9. Same As It Ever Was! Fuck Them! n/t

[MissWaverly]

26. things have changed

if we, the people can get our vote back then they will not be able to have lobbyists rule!

[bluesbassman]

10. I just hope they didn't give it to Halliburton.

This is another disturbing example of how poorly the Katrina response has/is being handled. Let's just hope that the "other" federal and state agencies that received these supplies make better use of them.

[Wizard777]

11. What States were the supplies given to? My guess is they were Red on the political map.

They gave the trailers meant for Kartina victims to people in the red heartland after a tornado went through Tornado Alley. They got them before Katrina victims got any trailers. That was a real bonehead move too. What's wrong with this picture.

Hi, we're from FEMA. We're sorry the tornado ripped your home from it's foundation. Here have a trailer for the next one. :wow:

[Mind_your_head]

12. Travesty after travesty.......

One would think that New Orleans isn't a part of america anymore.....the way New Oleans' have been treated and all....

The vultures lie in wait.....to scoop up all of that New Oleans real estate!

eom

[Divine Discontent]

13. I agree!

they continue to assault our compassion with their evil actions, and this kind of announcement just continues to prove they didn't want to help people who are unfortunate... the richies are always protected...

Hate to be them after they die, just my opinion... they're the worst kind of scum on this Earth



Pro-Obama and Anti-McSame/B*sh Items!
www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable

[Mind_your_head]

18. You know, the PEOPLE who owned that land aren't 'unfortunate'

They(or their ancestors) FOUGHT for that land ~ and they're going to have to fight to keep it!

Peace,
M_Y_H

p.s. don't fight in a court-o'-law (b/c you'll lose) ;-)

[Divine Discontent]

22. hmm interesting point - and I'm sure they'll fight - people don't like being

taken total advantage of.

take care! :)

[kestrel91316]

14. I'm gonna be in NOLA for a few days in July. Heaven knows, I don't have

much to be spending there, but I am gonna do my level best to spend it, and on MOM 'N' POP PLACES, little corner restaurants, not big corporate places (no BJ's Brewery for me, it's a chain) or fancy places owned by the wealthy.

I figure I can put more money in the local economy by doing that than any tax dollars I paid that were supposed to wind up there but didn't.

[aquart]

17. Little places are coming back. Good people are bringing them back.

And there's a difference between this year and last. I have a friend who volunteers with Hands On New Orleans thru Boston Cares.

There are delicious things for the not rich to eat in New Orleans.

<>

[yankeeinlouisiana]

15. Dear Lord, will this ever end!?!

n/t

[aquart]

16. Are public hangings really wrong?

Because I want to kill those murderers.

[Mind_your_head]

19. Haven't you been tombstoned yet? *sigh*

[aquart]

23. Purges your thing?

[Mojorabbit]

20. I can't understand why

they gave them away. There has been disaster after disaster lately and surely they don't think there will never be a need in this country for the items.

[Mind_your_head]

21. Follow the money?

:shrug:

There isn't much 'goodness/benefit of the general welfare' to follow in public spheres these days....must be the money ~ Yep!

[Javaman]

24. it's stories like this that frustrate the shit out of me and break my heart

at the same time.

[progressoid]

25. good grief

[KoKo]

27. Kick..sickening!

[KoKo]

28. Kick...Remember when Chimp turned away "European Planes filled with Aid?

They wanted to HELP NO's...but Bush/Cheney wanted NO's to die to prove that "bootstraps" would pull people up...after it killed the folks the Bushies don't think are "true Americans."