The Greed Liberals Love

Katrina greed:

Some examples cited by the New York Times, illustrate the wide-ranging nature of the corruption:

* An estimated 1,100 prison inmates across the Gulf Coast collected in excess of $10 million in rental assistance and disaster-relief money. Crime pays! FEMA, in addition, distributed millions of tax dollars to people who used names and Social Security numbers belonging to state and federal prisoners.

* A hotel owner in Sugar Land, Texas, has been charged with submitting $232,000 in invoices for evacuees who allegedly never stayed at his hotel, billing FEMA for purportedly empty rooms or rooms occupied by paying guests or hotel employees.

* An Illinois woman who was living in Illinois at the time of the storm sought relief benefits by claiming she had watched her two daughters drown in the flood waters of New Orleans. The children never existed.

* A Department of Labor employee in Louisiana, appropriately named Wayne Lawless, has been charged with handing out nearly 100 falsified disaster unemployment benefit cards in exchange for kickbacks of up to $300 per card.

* In New Orleans, two FEMA officials have pleaded guilty to pocketing $20,000 in bribes in exchange for inflating the count on the number of meals a contractor was serving to relief workers.

* With the $2,000 debit cards distributed by FEMA for disaster relief, an estimated 5,000 people have double dipped, receiving both the $2,000 plastic card and a second $2,000 by check or electronically.

But hey, it's just ripping off the taxpayers, right? Move along, nothing to see here. Gotta get to that anti-Wal-Mart rally.