Incompetence Keeps Its Day Job
Posted on
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
by Gary A. Ballard
There are news stories that make you think, news stories that make you sad and news stories that really have no impact on you whatsoever. Then there are some news stories that make you so intractably furious, so outraged and disgusted that language should fail even the most accomplished wordsmith. One can only be left in a puddle of quivering anger jelly, that bilious substance that fuels this angst-ridden collection of feelings. You see, it wasn't enough that Republican campaign contributors with fat contracts and Republican politicians failed the city of New Orleans so spectacularly during the events of Hurricane Katrina. No, that wasn't enough. The right wing greed machine and the companies it employs to clean up its messes have decided that New Orleans didn't deserve working flood pumps before the thankfully mild 2006 hurricane season.
Yep, that's right. The new flood pumps that were put in place in early 2006 to protect New Orleans from another hurricane, whether that hurricane was a pedestrian Category 1 or the more dangerous Katrina types, those life-saving pumps were installed in a non-functioning state. They were fucked, in essence. The pumps themselves were defective, testing of the pumps was half-assed at best and the decision was made by the Army Corps of Engineers to go ahead with this catastrophuck in the making. The Corps had no way of knowing if any of those pumps would work, what capacity they would work at, nor did they apparently know how bad the flooding would be in case of a hurricane.
How is this acceptable? How is this making good on Bush's promise to use the $5.7 billion Congress allocated to protect New Orleans better than it was pre-Katrina? How are people not being fined, fired and jailed for this kind of absolute cockup?
The really galling part lies here:
This is unacceptable. First off, this company which has shown its corruption and incompetence before, is given an extremely important contract. Said incompetent company was founded by friends of the President's brother and a Republican campaign contributor. Isn't that the very definition of corruption, or at the least, a conflict of interests? The Corps of Engineers shouldn't be withholding 20 percent of the contract, they should be demanding all the money back and for this company to complete the work for free. At the very least, the company should be barred from seeking such contracts in the future, should they ever manage to complete this contract acceptably. But no, the Corps decided to pay them an additional $4 million for extra portable pumps. This company doesn't deserve more money to deliver what they were supposed to already have delivered.
How do politicians support this sort of vile profiteering? How can they endorse such rampant incompetence? These douchebags have stolen money from the American public, and are likely to be the cause of future deaths that will not only be a goddamn tragedy, but will, I would hope, cause these politicians to lose their cushy jobs. Does this just not get through to them that these current Republicans and friends of Republicans are tarring their Party with the unwashable stench of corruption the likes of which this country has never seen before?
But of course, the story is likely to not get front page news. I couldn't even find this story on CNN.com, which was plastered with the smug piehole of that cunt of an AG, Alberto Gonzales, who knows he won't lose his job despite being consistently wrecthed at it. New Orleans has almost been the forgotten abused child since the bodies stopped floating in front of TV cameras, except when celebrities show up for Mardi Gras. Congress sure has forgotten about the city, what with Senators spending three weeks just arguing over whether they can actually debate the fucking Iraq War without emboldening the terrorists.
What the fuck is wrong with you ivory tower jackasses? Is the petty squabbling more important than people's fucking lives? Get on with it, and get on with actually helping New Orleans. And for fuck's sake, get on with prosecuting the bejeesus out of any shitheel corporation like MWI, IAP or Haliburton that wants to suck off the government tit while pissing on the American people who are funding their welfare windfall.
Yep, that's right. The new flood pumps that were put in place in early 2006 to protect New Orleans from another hurricane, whether that hurricane was a pedestrian Category 1 or the more dangerous Katrina types, those life-saving pumps were installed in a non-functioning state. They were fucked, in essence. The pumps themselves were defective, testing of the pumps was half-assed at best and the decision was made by the Army Corps of Engineers to go ahead with this catastrophuck in the making. The Corps had no way of knowing if any of those pumps would work, what capacity they would work at, nor did they apparently know how bad the flooding would be in case of a hurricane.
How is this acceptable? How is this making good on Bush's promise to use the $5.7 billion Congress allocated to protect New Orleans better than it was pre-Katrina? How are people not being fined, fired and jailed for this kind of absolute cockup?
The really galling part lies here:
The drainage-canal pumps were custom-designed and built under a $26.6 million contract awarded after competitive bidding to Moving Water Industries
Corp. of Deerfield Beach, Fla. It was founded in 1926 and supplies flood-control
and irrigation pumps all over the world.
MWI is owned by J. David Eller and his sons. Eller was once a business partner of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in a venture called Bush-El that marketed MWI pumps. And Eller has donated about $128,000 to politicians, the vast majority of it to the Republican Party, since 1996, according to the Centerfor Responsive Politics.
MWI has run into trouble before. The U.S. Justice Department sued the company in 2002, accusing it of fraudulently helping Nigeria obtain $74 million in taxpayer-backed loans for overpriced and unnecessary water-pump equipment. The case has yet to be resolved.
Because of the trouble with the New Orleans pumps, the Corps has withheld 20 percent of the MWI contract, including an incentive of up to $4 million that the company could have collected if it delivered the equipment intime for the 2006 hurricane season.
This is unacceptable. First off, this company which has shown its corruption and incompetence before, is given an extremely important contract. Said incompetent company was founded by friends of the President's brother and a Republican campaign contributor. Isn't that the very definition of corruption, or at the least, a conflict of interests? The Corps of Engineers shouldn't be withholding 20 percent of the contract, they should be demanding all the money back and for this company to complete the work for free. At the very least, the company should be barred from seeking such contracts in the future, should they ever manage to complete this contract acceptably. But no, the Corps decided to pay them an additional $4 million for extra portable pumps. This company doesn't deserve more money to deliver what they were supposed to already have delivered.
How do politicians support this sort of vile profiteering? How can they endorse such rampant incompetence? These douchebags have stolen money from the American public, and are likely to be the cause of future deaths that will not only be a goddamn tragedy, but will, I would hope, cause these politicians to lose their cushy jobs. Does this just not get through to them that these current Republicans and friends of Republicans are tarring their Party with the unwashable stench of corruption the likes of which this country has never seen before?
But of course, the story is likely to not get front page news. I couldn't even find this story on CNN.com, which was plastered with the smug piehole of that cunt of an AG, Alberto Gonzales, who knows he won't lose his job despite being consistently wrecthed at it. New Orleans has almost been the forgotten abused child since the bodies stopped floating in front of TV cameras, except when celebrities show up for Mardi Gras. Congress sure has forgotten about the city, what with Senators spending three weeks just arguing over whether they can actually debate the fucking Iraq War without emboldening the terrorists.
What the fuck is wrong with you ivory tower jackasses? Is the petty squabbling more important than people's fucking lives? Get on with it, and get on with actually helping New Orleans. And for fuck's sake, get on with prosecuting the bejeesus out of any shitheel corporation like MWI, IAP or Haliburton that wants to suck off the government tit while pissing on the American people who are funding their welfare windfall.
Labels: Bush Administration, Corporate Corruption, Government Corruption, Politics, Privatization
posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 10:00 AM
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