The Los Angeles Times, in keeping with its long-standing tradition of leaning Left and, more recently, ridiculous editorial stances, unfathomable columnists and, as a result (like other DEM print papers), its hemorrhaging of readers, does not fail to disappoint with its current stance:
Sure, Hurrican Katrina victims misspent FEMA money but, know what? It’s not their fault!
From the Times:
COMMON CURRENCY
A hurricane of fraud?
FEMA did mismanage Katrina relief, but it’s wrong to blame victims for spending irresponsibly.
June 17, 2006
For every “Girls Gone Wild” video purchased, thousands of families used their cards for clothing, food and temporary shelter without having to deal with federal red tape. Bad spending decisions are an unfortunate side effect of a clever and responsive policy.
The 16% of improper expenditures is indeed high for a federal aid program — food stamps and unemployment insurance, by comparison, had respective rates of 5.9% and 10.1% last fiscal year. But these are established programs, not on-the-fly responses that had to process a sudden rush of 2.6 million claims. Unlike a permanent safety net, disaster relief’s top priority is to help as many people as fast as possible, which comes at the price of reduced efficiency (bold emphasis is mine. BZ).
It’s easy, and necessary, to criticize FEMA’s across-the-board incompetence in responding to the largest displacement of Americans since the Civil War. But obsessing about the spending habits of refugees comes perilously close to blaming the victim.
Blaming The Victim?
The LA Times is incompetent. Of course I blame the victim. Yes, the government response was lackluster. But the greatest lackluster performance was at the local and state level, not the national level. FEMA is not a first responder. No federal government agency is a first responder.
On one hand, the Times labels FEMA has having “across the board incompetence” and, on the other hand, writes: “Bad spending decisions are an unfortunate side effect of a clever and responsive (FEMA) policy.”
So which is it, Times? Is FEMA incompetent or not? Clever or not?
Come on, give me a break.
This is simply what happens when you give people things they had nothing to do with earning. Allow me to be frank. The greater bulk of persons requiring the aid were black. Ray Nagin said so, so it must be true. Many of these persons were on various local, state and federal programs already, whereupon they were provided with a level of substance for free. Items acquired for free allow little investment by the receiver nor an appreciation of how it is these items came to be budgeted. Let me provide a little hint: these programs and items were funded by me and you; the TAXPAYERS.
Giving anyone, at any time, a “pass” for their stupidity and/or illegal actions is doing nothing more than enforcing the thought that money and programs are literally free, that government somehow has an unlimited source of funding (hey, they can print more money, right?), and that there is no responsibility, discipline or even appreciation attached. It is why they are called entitlements: they are expected.
This is the federal government, once more, training people to depend on the largesse of its coffers and chaining those who receive this largesse into a permanent, enduring, generational underclass that will consistently vote for more and free.
“Good job, Katrina Victims; good boy; good girl! Here’s a biscuit!“
Thanks, LA Times, for merely continuing to ensure The Pygmalion Effect will proliferate at its happy, rapid rate.
You morons.
BZ
