I'm guessing that when the 110th Congress is seated in about a month, they're going to have a tough road beginning the long, slow task of oversight. I'm sure that the machinery is already being dusted off by guys like Charlie Rangel, Henry Waxman and John Conyers, their staffs are probably looking at who gets first shot at the committee rooms with the best C-SPAN access, not for grandstanding (although, I'm sure the showboats like Biden in the Senate will come out), but for making sure that the total lack of oversight by the Rubber-Stamp Republicans is emphasized as being a reason for the current utter chaos in government.
Case in point. Heckuva-job FEMA just got bitch-slapped by a federal judger for being going places Ebenezer Scrooge only dreamed of. If it were up to FEMA to toss people in debtors prison, they'd probably make a note in the Federal Register, and open the first prison next year. But I digress...the administrator of FEMA is already sending a bit "fuck you" to Congress over the issue of their treatment of poor people (you know, the ones they discovered lived in New Orleans, then ignored).
Bush administration defenders see good news in the drop. Those still receiving aid were most dependent before Katrina, mostly single mothers on welfare, while the rest are back on their feet, said Ronald D. Utt, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank.
"From a human suffering point of view, I think it's good news," Utt said. Even for lower-income people who would struggle to pay higher rents in New Orleans while looking for work, he said, "a lot of people have simply found it easier to stay where they are, which are probably places of greater opportunity than New Orleans."
"They're underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them"
Yeah, Mr. Utt has come a long way from Babs, hasn't he?
So, Mr. Paulinson, Heckuva-job Brownie's successor then tosses the gauntlet down to Congress...
But, he also said: "We have to resist the call for additional investigations unless they're based on new evidence and allegations. Rather than conduct additional studies, inquiries, analysis that look backward and tell us what we really already know, we should continue to focus on correcting the problems."
Calling Congressman Waxman... you have just been slapped across the face with a leather glove. This FEMA jerk-off is daring you to have hearings on incompetance that has already drawn judicial ire. I'm guessing that if he could, he'd come to your committee hearing with a couple of 1600 Crew lawyers, give you the finger (probably for real) and walk out. I guess he hasn't heard there's a new sherriff in town, and his name is Henry.
I'm gonna be loving my DVR this year. If there is a move to impeach, it'll be for high crimes and misdemeanors uncovered in the course of regular oversight. It won't be sexy and it probably won't even make the news when it comes to light, but remember, Al Capone went down for income taxes not murder.
