Fox, Henhouse, Etc.
Sep 28th, 2005 at 8:49 am by Susie
“Less than perfect character.” Oh, I think I can agree with that:
WASHINGTON (AP) — A day after castigating the federal government’s ousted disaster chief, a House panel will hear pledges from government auditors that they will closely examine millions of dollars in contracts the Bush administration awarded to politically connected companies for Hurricane Katrina relief.
The inspectors general from half a dozen agencies, as well as officials from the Government Accountability Office, on Wednesday were addressing a House subcommittee on the Katrina cleanup and announcing several new audits to combat waste and fraud.
They are pledging strong oversight that includes a review of no-bid contracts and close scrutiny of federal employees who now enjoy a $250,000 — rather than a $2,500 — purchase limit for Katrina-related expenses on their government-issued credit cards.
“When so much money is available, it draws people of less than perfect character,” H. Walker Feaster, inspector general of the Federal Communications Commission, said. “It underscores the need for internal controls of the money going out.”
These two hurricanes represent nothing more than open ended, no limit ATM cards for a long list of Bush/Rove/DeLay/Hastert/Barbour/Cheney/Frist cronies, bagmen, relatives, lobbyists and former-current-future business partners. Mere pennies on the dollar will make their way to the displaced, unemployed and injured. The worst part is the majority of Americans will heartily agree with the looting, figuring the money is better in the pockets of patriotic/paternal protector Bushco henchmen than Democrats, whom Fox has successfuuly pegged as fellow travelers and al Qaida sympathizers. This is a safer bet for all the looters than even Iraq. At least stateside they’re not getting shot at. Yet.