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Hater Depot · Joined: 29 Mar 2005

http://www.andrewsullivan.com/index.php?dish_inc=archives/2005_09_04_dish_archive.html#112611300944145832

Read that, then scroll up and read the rest of the posts. How can anybody have any confidence in Bush anymore? Why should we trust him to do anything ever again? Yes, the local authorities screwed up badly. But he signed the order putting the feds in charge. He put an unqualified idiot in charge of FEMA. He ignored the situation for days and made idiotic jokes about it when he finally went to Mississippi.

I am furious that anyone could even think of defending him after reading those stories.

Imbroglio · Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 11:54 am Post subject:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5262192,00.html

Katrina Victims to Get $2K Debit Cards

Wednesday September 7, 2005 7:16 PM

AP Photo ILBK107

By DEVLIN BARRETT

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The federal government plans to begin doling out debit cards worth $2,000 each to adult victims of Hurricane Katrina, The Associated Press has learned.

Homeland Security Department Secretary Michael Chertoff descibed the plan in a conference call with state officials Wednesday morning. The unprecedented cash card program initially will benefit stranded people who have been moved to major rescue centers such as the Houston Astrodome.

``They are going to start issuing debit cards, $2,000 per adult, today (Wednesday) at the Astrodome,'' said Kathy Walt, a spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

The cards could be used to buy food, transportation, gas and other essentials, according to a state official who was on the call and requested anonymity because the program has not been publicly announced.

The available money - $13 billion in all - will be distributed from the federal Disaster Relief Fund, said FEMA spokeswoman Natalie Rule. She said FEMA was setting up registration centers in shelters in Houston and Dallas where evacuees could obtain the cards.

FEMA is working to set up similar registration centers in other shelters across the country, Rule said, and evacuees can also get the debit cards by calling 1-800-621-FEMA or going to the agency's web site at http://www.fema.gov.

The cards will be issued on a one-per-household basis, Rule said, and are open only to victims who were forced from their homes during the hurricane and its aftermath. As a safeguard against fraud, FEMA will use aerial photographs of devastated areas to verify that the refugees were, indeed, forced from their homes in cases where they cannot provide documents to prove their losses or identities.

``We've got a huge population of people that have been evacuated with very little by way of possessions and we have to have a way to make sure these people can function,'' Rule said. ``If there are those who are out there to cheat the system, that is going to be very disappointing. But the main goal is to get the aid out.''

In Boston, Gov. Mitt Romney said the cards will be offered ``to people in shelters as well as people who are not in shelters but who have evacuated the area and need help.'' He said the hope is the cards will encourage people to leave shelters voluntarily.

It's unclear how much the debit card program will cost the government, but it's likely to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars since hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced.

Bulsajo · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

Hater, that link was a great read, lots of stuff in there.

Imbroglio:
$2000 credit per family dolled out at 'major rescue centers'?
Is that the best way they could think of to spend $13B to assist hurricane victims? I guess we'll have to wait and see how it works out, but it sounds like a non-starter...

Imbroglio · Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 1:30 pm Post subject:

It's never enough is it? I wonder how many of them would have left the city if they'd had that 2K before the hurricane hit them though.

hypnotist · Joined: 04 Dec 2004 Location: I wish I were a sock

This was quite moving, too.

http://www.emsnetwork.org/artman/publish/article_18337.shtml

Kuros · Joined: 27 Apr 2004

mithridates · Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 11:08 pm Post subject:

And it's going to be September 11th in just a few days; that's going to be awkward.

Hollywoodaction · Joined: 02 Jul 2004

desultude · Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 4:08 am Post subject:

I read today that they canceled the $2000 debit cards.

rapier · Joined: 16 Feb 2003

Wrench · Joined: 07 Apr 2005

Now that I look at the whole picture Osama really did win in ever non shooting battle.

Hater Depot · Joined: 29 Mar 2005

Hollywoodaction · Joined: 02 Jul 2004

Summer Wine · Joined: 20 Mar 2005 Location: Next to a River

Quote:

including people who absolutely couldn't leave--like hospital patients, including those in comas, and the doctors and nurses who stayed to keep them alive.

Are you implying that in the face of a category 4 or 5 hurricane, the US is unable to move sick people out of the way of danger? Or are you saying that they didn't want too?

I am absolutely Shocked