FEMA outsources Katrina body count to firm implicated in body-dumping scan

[cynatnite]

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has hired scandal-ridden Kenyon International to set up a mobile morgue for handling bodies in Baton Rouge, Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina, RAW STORY has learned.

Kenyon is a subsidiary of Service Corporation International (SCI), a Texas-based company operated by a friend of the Bush family. Recently, SCI subsidiaries have been implicated in illegally discarding and desecrating corpses.

In other words, FEMA outsourced the body count from Hurricane Katrina -- which many believe the worst natural disaster in U.S. history -- to a firm whose parent company is known for its "experience" at hiding and dumping bodies.

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/FEMA_outsources_Katrina_body_count_to_firm_implicated_in_bodydumping_scan_0913.html

[mark11727]

SCI goes all the way back to *'s gubernatorial days.

Yikes.

[jsamuel]

1. That is what I posted I was worried about when I found out they were

getting contractors and replacing more than enough volunteer morticians.

[rodeodance]

5. so the big change at the head made a difference?

[cynatnite]

2. I'm sick to my stomach now

:puke:

[NYC]

3. ...illegally discarding and desecrating corpses...

...illegally discarding and desecrating corpses...

They are so blatant.

[LSparkle]

10. Oh Lord I'm sickened by this ...

The enormity of this will never truly be known.

[NYC]

12. People were sickened by it when they were doing it in the cemeteries

and/or funeral homes. Now, they are given the opportunity to do it again, and make a profit.

Of all the companies to hire. They have no shame. Profit is not only the primary motive, it seems to be the only motive.

[Canuckistanian]

4. Don't buy any 'discount hamburger'

Or any Soy-Lentil products, either.

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Why am i not surprised?

------------------------------------------------------
URGENT yet easy! Hold the government accountable for Katrina's aftermath
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4736062

Save the gulf, then save the nation! http://www.geocities.com/greenpartyvoter/electionreform.htm

[12345]

7. Someone on DU wrote about this a few days ago. Insane.

[Lucille]

8. Blanco signed the contract

According to Talkingpointsmemo, Kenyon was about to leave LA, possibly because FEMA didn't finalyze the contract. Then at the last minute, Blanco stepped in and signed the contract. Marshall (TPM) doesn't really seem to know what to make of this--says that Blanco could be grandstanding or being a hero--as we all know this is a health crisis that grows worse with every minute, and FEMA appeared to be inexplicably dawdling.


http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_09_11.php#006529

(September 13, 2005 -- 05:22 PM EDT // link // print)

I'm not quite sure what to make of this. But it seems worth keeping an eye on.

As we discussed a couple days ago, FEMA hired Kenyon Worldwide Disaster Management

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to handle the recovery and disposition of the bodies of the victims of Katrina. But they were apparently getting ready to pack up and leave the state because FEMA -- having hired them a few days ago -- had failed to finalize their contract.

"From what I understand, Kenyon had some questions about the contract," FEMA spokesman David Passey.

And now Blanco has stepped in and signed a contract with Kenyon on behalf of the state of Louisiana so that the retrieval of the dead will be delayed no longer.

Every politician who's crossed paths with Katrina is on a tightrope. They'll either be wounded beyond repair or just possibly they'll have their careers made. So I don't discount the possibility that Blanco is grandstanding here or mischaracterizing the situation.

But what happened exactly? Did FEMA bring them in and then dawdle?

[Rainscents]

9. There's tread here, Blanco hired Kenyon and signed contract!

Since, FEMA and CSI was having difference over the contract! This was done this morning!

[Coastie for Truth]

11. SCI exposed by New York Times years ago

Largest funeral chain in US

Buy up formerly "independent, family owned" local funeral homes-

keep the old name
keep some of the old management
Centralize buying of caskets, embalming, vehicles
but charge families based on the old "small funeral home" price


Tremendously profitable

Lobby assiduously to stop cremation, "do it yourself" funeral co-op societies

They have established a new "business model" -i.e., "they all do it" - send out bodies to other undertakers for embalming, cosmetology; bait and switch on caskets. SCI does it better and wrote the book and pays off politicos.

Don't say that your community funeral director (the one who buried grandma) doesn't do it. His kids sold out to SCI ages ago and are now SCI employee-shareholders.

MacFunerals.

[noiretextatique]

13. so, they intend to manipulate the body count

:puke: why doesn't this surprise me?

[Sequoia]

14. Sick. Let's hope the new FEMA director, Mr. Duct Tape

doesn't get any ideas.

[Sacajawea]

15. Big scandal down South in the recent past...N. or S. Carolina, I think...

Something about taking out previously interred remains, discarding them in a heap and then using the plot for a new burial. I'm wondering if SCI was the company involved in that scandal. Time to google.

[RepublicanElephant]

16. this is the same company dubya lied under oath for...

http://www.realchange.org/bushjr.htm#funeral

DETAILS: SCI has long cultivated Bush and his allies. They gave governor Bush $35,000 in the last election and $10K in 1994, gave $100,000 to the George Bush, Sr. library, and hired the ex-president to give a speech last year for $70,000. They also spread money around the Texas legislature and the Texas Attorney General's office.

After the investigation got serious, SCI's boss, Robert Waltrip, called the funeral commission's chairman and told him to "back off." If not, Waltrip said, "I'm going to take this to the governor."

Still, the investigation continued. So Waltrip and his lawyer/lobbyist, Johnnie B. Rogers, went to the governor's office and dropped off a letter demanding a halt to the investigation. Rogers told Newsweek that he and Waltrip were ushered in to see Joe Allbaugh, Bush's chief of staff (who is now Bush's campaign manager.) Rogers goes on to say that Bush Jr. popped his head in and said to Waltrip, "Hey, Bobby, are those people still messing with you?" Waltrip said yeah. Then the governor turned to Rogers and said, "Hey, Johnnie B. Are you taking care of him?" Rogers said "I'm doing my best, Governor."

The problem for Bush is that he swore under oath, in a July 20th 1999 affidavit, that he "had no conversations with officials, agents, or represenatives concerning the investigation or any dispute arising from it." If Rogers is telling the truth, than Bush Jr. lied directly under oath. He filed the affidavit in an attempt to avoid testifying in a whistleblower lawsuit concerning this investigation and it's alleged squashing by Bush's administration.