C-Span 2 - Senate hearings on Katrina disaster. Another day,

[Democrat 4 Ever]

another chance for the repug Senators to looks for a scape goat for Chucklenuts.

FYI for those who want to watch.

[Sydnie]

1. Are they trying to sneak this one in, or what?

No discussion of this in the news at all. Thanks for the heads up.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. talking about the fraud and wasteful spending...

everything from the debt cards being used for tatoos and gambling, to the checks handed out with no proof of damage, to the failures getting supplies to people when so much money was spent.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

3. This will be used by the repugs to bolster their arguments that

the people who suffered through Katrina deserved no help - they are all just crooks. Never mind they won't look to the organization and government people who allowed themselves to be "duped" by this crafty bunch of people standing on rooftops dying of thirst and hunger.

The weekend talking points was to shift this completely away from Chucklenuts, Chertoff, et al and put it back on Brownie. Brownie deserves all the condemnation anyone can muster but the repugs desperately want to tap dance away from looking at the real problems. Graft, corruption, incompetence and no-bid contracts by this administration's friends.

[mirrera]

5. Bingo! N/T

[Wheezy]

6. What is this...

...is it like parents saying, "We'll pay for your college, but only if you go where we tell you to go."

Know what? If I had lived through that horror, I may think a tattoo might spiritually be a way to deal with it and/or commemorate, bolster hopes, etc.

What happened to freedom? We'll give you money, but only if you buy certain things that WE think are what you need. What.fucking.ever.

[Wheezy]

4. Is this the official thread #1 ? :)

The GAO Auditor, Gregory Kutz, is testifying. Talking about fraud. People using others' SSN's, bogus addresses, to get money.

Susan Collins allowed Lieberman and Akaka to make opening statements along with herself.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

7. Still making opening statements. A horrible bunch of Americans

found creative ways to defraud the government. Oh, the inhumanity of it! The thing that I think really pisses off the repugs is that people figured out the scams for themselves and didn't cut them in on the loot. Still no outrage over the incompetence of FEMA.

One note - they did show pictures of mobile homes that have ruined sitting in mud in Arkansas - twisted and rotting frames - now unusable.

Now the questions start. Will it be a day of hard balls or nerfs by the repugs?

[Wheezy]

8. Lieberman is saying

FEMA won't be taken seriously unless they institute fraud prevention in their policy.

Asking about people who frauded -- are they hardened criminals or what?
A. Many of the people were former residents of the area.

Why couldn't people on the other end of the phone be trained to take applications properly? People who applied for help on-line were checked with SSN.