Tancredo slams Katrina spending

[RadioFreeSeaLab]

Tancredo slams Katrina spending
By Klaus Marre
August 31, 2007
GOP presidential hopeful Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.) said Friday it is time the taxpayer gravy train left the New Orleans station and urged an end to the federal aid to the region that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina two years ago.
The amount of money that has been wasted on these so-called recovery efforts has been mind-boggling, said Tancredo, who is running a long-shot presidential campaign. Enough is enough.

 
Citing administration figures, the lawmaker said that $114 billion has been spent on the effort to rebuild a large stretch of the Gulf Coast after the storm hit New Orleans in August 2005 and claimed more than 1,600 lives.

At some point, state and local officials and individuals have got to step up to the plate and take some initiative, said Tancredo. The mentality that people can wait around indefinitely for the federal taxpayer to solve all their worldly problems has got to come to an end.

The lawmaker criticized in particular the amount that has been wasted through fraud and abuse, estimated at $1 billion.

This whole fiasco has been a perfect storm of corruption and incompetence at all levels, he added.

 

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/tancredo-slams-katrina-spending-2007-08-31.html

[AmbulanceDriver]

ya know, I kinda agree with him.  Yeah, this was a disaster.  A horrible disaster.  But that's the same reason I carry insurance on my car, and on my residence.  I hate to sound calloused, but if you live below sea level, in a hurricane zone, don't you think it'd be smart to carry insurance that specifically would cover those types of event?

And I did go down there about 9 months after Katrina hit and helped w/ reconstruction efforts.  So I saw the damage first hand.  And yeah, it was horrible.  But as the saying goes, and ounce of prevention........

[Paddy]

The lion's share of the blame for this fiasco is the Congress and the President.  They're the ones who wrote the checks.

[El Tejon]

Turn off the gravy train AND refund me my money that was spent down there.

[longeyes]

He's right, but it's a message, like many, that no one wants to hear.

Yet.

[Firethorn]

While I agree that 'enough is enough', I do have to note that $1B wasted out of $114B is actually quite good for the federal government.

But, this is probably just the 'known' fraud, waste, and abuse.  The real figure is probably quite higher.

[longeyes]

The Left will use the graft and inefficiencies of the public sector, all levels, to demand even more big government that will screw up even worse in the future. 

Sit back and enjoy the show.

[The Rabbi]

The Left will use the graft and inefficiencies of the public sector, all levels, to demand even more big government that will screw up even worse in the future. 

Sit back and enjoy the show.

A miracle.  We agree at last.

This will be touted by the left as the reason why there should be MORE spending on worthless stuff like this.
The problem with NO has been a welfare mentality that looks to the gov't to solve its problems.  That has to end.  Preferably now.

[Manedwolf]

If the government wants to spend money in recovery efforts, it should be in incentives, not handouts.

For instance...live in a fire-prone area? Tax cuts if you build a stone house with a slate roof that won't burn.

Live in a flood area? Tax cuts if you build on a hill or improve your land for good drainage.

Live in a hurricane area? Tax credits if you build your house like they used to build houses in hurricane areas, like older South Florida homes. Single-story ranch with cinderblock outer walls, door that opens outward (pushes against the frame instead of being pushed in to blow the roof), solid roof with concrete tiedowns. They were built that way for a reason!

[Standing Wolf]

Yippee! Free gummint money!

[Firethorn]

Live in a hurricane area? Tax credits if you build your house like they used to build houses in hurricane areas, like older South Florida homes. Single-story ranch with cinderblock outer walls, door that opens outward (pushes against the frame instead of being pushed in to blow the roof), solid roof with concrete tiedowns. They were built that way for a reason!

You know, you just described my grandparent's house?  The one that's sustained no damage even when houses were being knocked down a block over, and roofs were lost left and right?

Except the roof, I think their roof has wood tiedowns, but they're big beams, two inches bigger to a side than the later 'standard'.  IE 6x8 rather than 4x6.

[Gewehr98]

Having just left hurricane-prone Florida, I cannot recommend steel hurricane straps highly enough.  They're required by code there nowadays, but were I to ever buy a used home in that neck of the woods again, I'd make sure they were installed between the wall studs and roof trusses.  I know what houses look like afterwards when they weren't installed.   

[Manedwolf]

Having just left hurricane-prone Florida, I cannot recommend steel hurricane straps highly enough.  They're required by code there nowadays, but were I to ever buy a used home in that neck of the woods again, I'd make sure they were installed between the wall studs and roof trusses.  I know what houses look like afterwards when they weren't installed.   

They were for a while by some of the better builders of the cinderblock ranch homes in the 1950's and 60's, then they got lazy and cheap. The worst homes are the ones build in the late 70's (freeform redwood things with huge diagonal windows and such that implode) and 80's...the latter just being completely wrong. Siding-over-boards-and-studs outer walls, inward-opening double doors (duh!), and roof boards stapled, not nailed on, to speed up the process and save money. So many of those in Dade County literally exploded into a spray of debris, insulation and possessions in Andrew in 1992, while the old-style ranches took little damage.

Andrew also taught people to use the traditional methods of securing Spanish tile to roofs, as a lot of cheaply-installed tile roofs turned into projectile barrages for neighbors. One poor family had tiles from a local McDonalds come right through a wall like artillery shells.

[jnojr]

How can anyone merely think that Tancredo is right???

The Federal government has zero business "providing aid".  Nowhere in the Constitution is there any power delegated to Washington DC to spend money on local issues.

If a given state wants to tax everyone in the state and give the money to people in a "devastated" area, that's their prerogative.  If a given city wants to tax its' residents and save money for a disaster, that's it's prerogative.  If I don't want to be taxed for such things, it should be my prerogative to move somewhere that does not have such taxes.

[RadioFreeSeaLab]

What jnojr said!

[MechAg94]

I agree with that.  The first failure in all this was poor response and preparation at the local and state level. 

A guy who works for my company on there swore up and down that Bush and his guys intentionally limited support and money to Louisiana since it was a bunch of democrats and pushed all the support to Mississippi where Barber was governor.  It was really weird because he is a smart guy otherwise. 

[wmenorr67]

Have you seen where "Chocolate City" Nagin is wanting to run for governor now?

[The Rabbi]

Have you seen where "Chocolate City" Nagin is wanting to run for governor now?

tell me why that man isn't in jail?  Along with his police chief?

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

He's right, but it's a message, like many, that no one wants to hear.

Yet.

Speak for yourself, pal.  I want to hear this message.  I want to hear from anyone and everyone.  I want to keep hearing it until something is done about this utter embarrassment. 

[Manedwolf]

Have you seen where "Chocolate City" Nagin is wanting to run for governor now?

tell me why that man isn't in jail?  Along with his police chief?

The same reason Daley isn't?

[CAnnoneer]

Tancredo is solid on many issues. The problem with him is that he is portrayed as a nutty fringer and thus not taken seriously by way too many voters. It is very sad to see that one of the few voices of reason is so systematically ignored. All the more reason for thorough reforms. If the blue moon shines and somehow he becomes POTUS, there will be a big housecleaning during his mandate.