Champagne, anyone?

1.4 billion dollars. That's is how much FEMA money was scammed in the Katrina relief effort. Our tax dollars... money you and I worked hard to earn... was stolen to buy expensive goodies, like $400 bottles of champagne, vacations to the tropics, etc.

And, they say it gives emergency management a black eye. I say it gives Congress, and even the White House, a black eye. Why in the world were they so committed to pour all those billions into hurricane relief? Did someone in Washington send that hurricane on its destructive mission? Did we taxpayers cause it to happen?

If we didn't do it, why are we having to pay for it? I proudly admit that I did not (willingly) contribute a dime to Katrina relief. Since when is the government (taxpayers) responsible for a natural disaster that stikes someone else?

Every day in America some family's home burns to the ground, through no fault of its occupants. Homes slide off hillsides in California as a result of heavy rain. If the homeowners didn't have insurance - tough luck!

In 1964 I built a radio station in central Kansas. The construction came after a seven year battle before the FCC to obtain a broadcast license. Seven years of working two or three jobs at a time to earn enough to pay the lawyers and engineers necessary for the proceedings. When the station went on the air, it appeared that the waiting and the hard work were worth it. The station achieved immediate success.

Four months later, the Johnson Administration, in a round of military base closings, shut down the local Air Force base, throwing our town into an economic tailspin. Our radio station never made another 10 cents profit. We held on for seven years, then were forced to give up. I had invested 14 years of my life, and every dime I had earned in that period, but I walked away, dead broke. That was a direct result of an action by the Federal Government. There was no compensation for me from the Feds. Or from anyone else!

But, a hurricane hit New Orleans and people who had stupidly occupied houses that were below sea level, people who had refused to evacuate when warned to do so, are suddenly our responsibility and become the recipients of our hard earned dollars.

Can anyone explain this to me?