Should we be Surprised?

The government accounting office is investigating as much as $16 billion in fraudulent charges to FEMA's debit cards after Hurricane Katrina. You remember hurricane Katrina, don't you? It's the first storm that changed the victims from victims to wards of the state.

Stung by criticisms that it wasn't doing enough to help the victims, to get the bodies of the raped and murdered children out of the Superdome, and bring law and order to the city, FEMA handed out debit cards to just about anyone who applied for one. They gave debit cards to people who claimed their primary residence, a PO Box, was damaged. Even people in Alabama got them. Some debit cards paid for strippers, one a cruise, one for Dom Perignon champagne in Houston, and one was used to fund a sex change operation.

Come on, people. What did you expect? Over the last decades, we let the government become one huge cash cow that doles out money to anyone who applies. And as we nuzzle at the teat of the public trough, they tax us out the wazoo for it. Your mailman bothered your dog? Sue the Feds. A thunderstorm flooded your basement? Apply for flood relief. Victimized in any way, and are non-white? There's a fund set up for you.

The "victims" did what I do when I come in to extra bash: buy stuff I don't need. Hell, I have a list twenty items long of what to buy when I match four numbers on the lottery. And why not? Some school districts are putting tvs onto school buses and letting companies beam advertising directly into the vehicle. From the moment they leave the house until the last second they linger getting off the bus, they are subjected to a constant stream of ads. And since its TV, and it is a law (I'm sure) that you must watch a TV when it is on, they keep their eyes glued to the screen.

Whew!

Hey! How did I wind up over here?