Sixty Two Billion Reasons to Fire Blanco

 

Just a day after Bush's request, the House voted 410 to 11 to approve $51.8 billion for Katrina relief, and the Senate followed suit hours later 97 to 0, bringing the total approved in the past week to $62.3 billion, with more to come. I wonder who the 11 were? I mean really.

Sixty Two Billion Dollars!! Now the Government parting with that kind of figure needs to have some serious accountability, and our Governor Blanco is the first in the firing line. About time, I say. It is not going to save lives of the people whose blood is on her hands, but what the .... she has managed to make her defence case a political issue in a weak attempt to avoid accountability. But you know,  history is not a slave to any political denomination, and history will tell the story as it is. She will be remembered as Governor Kathleen 'I need 24 hrs to decide' Blanco. Really?

The bipartisan consensus on dispensing federal dollars did little to obscure the growing political rift over how to investigate what both sides consider the bungled initial response to one of the worst natural disasters in the nation's history.

The details of the spending package offers a glimpse of the impact Katrina will have on taxpayers. Nearly half of the money -- $23.2 billion -- will go directly to as many as 1.1 million households in the form of housing grants and other assistance. Such aid will be capped initially at $26,200 per household.

The bill stirred concerns in both parties about possible fraud. Under one provision, procurement officers can use government credit cards to make purchases costing as much as $250,000, without competitive bidding and without considering small-business and minority-owned-business allotments.

Such authority has traditionally been limited to $2,500 under normal circumstances and to $15,000 in emergencies. Lawmakers gave $15 million to the Homeland Security inspector general, but that did not mollify critics.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) said that "we've got safeguards" to ensure that the money is spent appropriately. "Sure, there is going to be waste in money," he acknowledged. "You can't deal with 5 million people and not have some waste in money. But the bulk is going to go to the people and the property that deserve it."

As I have been saying in Firing Blancos I, Firing Blancos II, and Great Ball of Fire, there are now Sixty Two Billion reasons for firing Blanco.....and Nagin....and Brown.

Comments

[Tanya]

I had a son on Nov 18, 2006. I have not as of this date received a birth certificate. I have been told by the office of vital records that I should not expect to receive a birth certificate for atleast 4 to 5 months from now 3/7/06. When I asked the delay, I was told there is a staff shortage and a hiring freeze.

I call Governor Blanco's office to see assistance. I was told by her rude assistant Richard that the Governor could do nothing to help me get my "one" birth certificate. When I asked how Blanket was proposing to give teachers a raise(I do think they need one) he told me that was different money and not tax money. That same afternoon, the newspaper reported that raises for teachers would be funded by an unexpected surge in tax money.

It is crazy for her and other to keep encouraging people to return to a state that cannot support the people who are here. I am not trying to get the birth certificate becasue I have nothing better to do. I have to file my taxes as required by state law and federal.

Her and her administration is a joke! But the laugh is on the citizens of Louisiana.

[Lilly]

It is not enough to fire Blanco, she has to answer in a Court of Law. She has been given enormous power as a Governor and merely being incompetent is not an excuse. You have to be accountable in the end when people's lives are at stake!