American Family Voices - Miriam V.

AM Feed - September 9, 2005

Hot Topics
List of 3 items
Both Houses of Congress rushed to pass a $51.8 billion aid package for the
victims of Hurricane Katrina, nudging the overall cost over $60 billion. But
all the funding in the world won't buy FEMA leaders experience in dealing
with disasters, which is what the initially-bungled recovery effort is
sorely
lacking. In fact, five of the eight top FEMA officials came to their jobs
with essentially no experience in handling such disasters - and the top
three
leaders (including chief Michael Brown) all arrived on the job with close
ties to President Bush's 2000 campaign. And the numbers get worse: FEMA has
experienced
massive turnover since it was rolled into the Homeland Security Department -
now nine of ten regional directors and three of five heads of natural
disaster-related
operations are in their jobs in an acting capacity. Clearly, these are not
the signs of an organization that has been given priority over the past few
years.
[link]
Congressional Democratic leaders Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Sen. Harry
Reid (D-NV) said yesterday that they would refuse to appoint members to the
new
"bipartisan" committee to investigate failures in the Katrina recovery
effort. Congressional Republicans bucked suggestions to create an
independent panel
(modeled after the highly successful 9/11 commission), and instead decided
to form a "bipartisan" Congressional committee - without including Democrats
in their plans until after they had been announced. It is expected that the
number of Republicans on the committee would far outpace the number of
Democrats.
"Despite all the talk of bipartisanship, they have just on their own,
unilaterally, put forth a proposal that will result in a whitewash of what
is going
on here," said Pelosi.
[link]
A grand jury indicted Rep. Tom DeLay's (R-TX) PAC, Texans for a Republican
Majority (TRMPAC), on charges that it violated election laws by using
corporate
money to influence state elections. The jury handed down two counts of
illegally soliciting corporate donations for campaigns - both felony
offenses. DeLay
helped to raise some of the money that is now at the center of the issue,
and he also sat on the board of the organization. The organization's
director
and fundraiser have already been indicted on charges of illegally accepting
corporate donations.
[link]
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Morning Snark
List of 1 items
In the wake of such a huge natural disaster, it can be comforting to focus
on regular occurrences that serves as a reminder that life goes on: The sun
will
rise, the seasons will change, and newspapers will always have more stories
of Rep. Tom DeLay's corruption.
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