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August 29, 2006

Bureaucratic Katrina Chaos

Writing on NRO, Congressman Bobby Jindal (R-LA) observes that the waste and fraud uncovered in the aftermath of Katrina has been a disaster in itself. Jindal notes just a few of the outrages taxpayers have financed:

• Months at a Hawaiian resort
• Five season tickets to the New Orleans Saints
• Hundreds of unoccupied trailers
• $175 per square paid for $5 per square roof tarps
• Overpaying by 20% on portable classrooms
• Cruise ships rented for months but only partially used
• Reimbursements to phantom victims
• Prison inmates collecting over $10 million in rental and disaster-relief assistance
• $2,000 debit cards spent on Louis Vuitton handbags, evenings at strip clubs, and Dom Perignon champagne

A staggering $100 billion has been approved in assistance, with not a whole lot to show for it. Meanwhile, private sector and faith-based organizations have battled their way through red tape to fill the extravagantly expensive void left by government incompetence, clearing debris that's still sitting there a year later, while bureaucrats publicly dream of taking over health care, where they would undoubtedly perform at a similar level of efficiency.

While moonbats exploit Katrina to propagandize in favor of racial balkanization, the real lesson is clear: we need to rely on ourselves, not the government.

Posted by Van Helsing at August 29, 2006 9:52 AM