[Mb-hair] Halliburton takes lead in Katrina reconstruction - Molly Ivins

[Michael Butler]

Thanks
XO M

> 
> 
> The graft goes on
> 
> Halliburton takes lead in Katrina reconstruction
> 
> By Molly Ivins
> 
> Creators Syndicate
> 
> 09.13.05 
> 
> AUSTIN, Texas -- Here's a good idea: Consumer groups and progressive
> congressfolks have joined in an effort to stop hundreds of thousands of
> victims of Hurricane Katrina from being further harmed by the new Bankruptcy
> Act, scheduled to take effect Oct. 17. This law was notoriously written of,
> by and for the consumer credit industry, and is particularly onerous for the
> poor. 
> 
> The bill was passed with massive support from the Republican leadership in
> Congress and from a disgusting number of sellout Democrats. While it was
> being considered in committee earlier this year, Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson
> Lee offered an amendment to protect victims of natural disasters. It was
> defeated, without debate, on a party-line vote.
> 
> Now, Congress has a chance to rethink some of the most punitive parts of
> the bill. Katrina victims who were planning to file before the new law goes
> into effect are s.o.l. -- where are they gonna find a lawyer, let alone an
> open courthouse? 
> 
> Under the new law, anyone whose income is over the state median must file
> under Chapter 13, a more restrictive category that requires some repayment
> of debt. The new law grants no exemption for natural disaster, even though
> it's going to be a little tough for some citizen sitting in the Astrodome
> who no longer has a home to come up with tax statements, pay stubs, and six
> months of income and expense data. Let's see if Congress can manage to open
> its marble heart on this issue.
> 
> Meanwhile, it's an ill wind that blows no one good, so we should not be
> surprised to learn the first winner out of the gate on Katrina is none other
> than the Halliburton Co., whose deserving subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root
> has already been granted a $29.8 million contract for cleanup work in the
> wake of Katrina. 
> 
> Of course, no one would suggest Halliburton and its subsidiaries get
> government contracts (more than $9 billion for reconstruction work in Iraq,
> with Pentagon audits thus far showing $1.03 billion in "questioned" costs
> and $422 million in "unsupported costs") just because Vice President Cheney
> is still on the payroll. Heavens no. The veep continues to receive deferred
> pay from the company he formerly headed -- $194,852 last year.
> 
> But Cheney has nothing to do with the Halliburton contracts -- that,
> friends, goes through none other than the noted lobbyist and former head of
> -- of all things -- the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Since Joe
> Allbaugh, who was Bush's campaign manger in 2000, left FEMA in December
> 2002, he has been busy making sure reconstruction contracts in Iraq go to
> companies that give generously to the Republican Party.
> 
> Now, aren't you ashamed of yourself for thinking there's something wrong
> with that? Besides, Allbaugh is now with a big-time Washington lobbying
> firm, where he also represents Shaw Group Inc., and -- viola -- Shaw Group,
> too, already has a $100 million emergency contract from FEMA for housing
> management and construction, and a $100 million order from the U.S. Army
> Corps of Engineers for Katrina repair.
> 
> Congress has appropriated over $60 billion in emergency funding for
> recovery costs, and estimates are the final costs will top $100 billion.
> 
> Danielle Brian, director of the Project on Government Oversight, told
> Reuters, "The government has got to stop stacking senior positions with
> people who are repeatedly cashing in on the public trust in order to further
> private commercial interests."
> 
> Now, Ms. Brian, get a grip. Not all the money goes to the big, politically
> connected firms. 
> 
> Michael ("You're doing a heckuva job") Brown liked to spread federal money
> around. In fact, Rep. Robert Wexler of Florida was so annoyed by Brownie's
> distribution of largesse in Miami after Hurricane Frances that he urged the
> president to fire Ol' Brownie last January. What upset Wexler about the $30
> million in FEMA checks to cover new wardrobes, cars, lawnmowers, vacuum
> cleaners, furniture and appliances was that the hurricane did not affect
> Miami. It landed 100 miles away.
> 
> Some of you may have heard me observe a time or two -- going back to when
> George W. was still governor of Texas -- that the trouble with the guy is
> that while he is good at politics, he stinks at governance. It bores him,
> he's not interested, he thinks government is bad to begin with and
> everything would be done better if it were contracted out to corporations.
> 
> We can now safely assert that W. has stacked much of the federal government
> with people like himself. And what you get when you put people in charge of
> government who don't believe in government and who are not interested in
> running it well is... what happened after Hurricane Katrina.
> 
> Many a time in the past six years I have bit my tongue so I wouldn't annoy
> people with the always obnoxious observation, "I told you so." But, dammit
> it all to hell, I did tell you, and I've been telling you since 1994, and I
> am so sick of this man and everything he represents -- all the sleazy, smug,
> self-righteous graft and corruption and "Christian" moralizing and cynicism
> and tax cuts for all his smug, rich buddies.
> 
> Next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the
> United States, please pay attention.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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