Ok wait, so why slam FEMA if they were scammed ? people reported PO boxes as destroyed houses and FEMA tried to help them. Seems to me that all this does is prove how FEMA tried to help the people of the gulf coast and how they stole from basicly all of us since FEMA is federaly funded through taxes. So I'd be pissed at the theives not the one who got robbed.
Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.
Maybe FEMA should be more thorough investigating the people BEFORE handing them thousands of dollars. They knew poeple were going to scam them so they should have had safety nets in place to weed out the scammers but they didn't.
Yeah but you know its gonna happen anyway. Those safe gaurds you speak of would only add days in not weeks to how long it takes to hand out the cash and then they would be slammed for taking too long. Seems like they're just damned if they do and damned if they don't.
But if I had to make a guess I'd say they would rather lose some money to scammers and be able to help thousands of people as quickly as possible rather then spand time doing investigations while people are starving.
Saving Lives > Losing Some Money.
Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.
yeah wish I had $1.4 billion to 'lose'.
Oh I agree its a ton of cash ! But that 1.4 billion can not compair with even 1 childs life and we're talking how many thousands of people ?
If it costed us 1.4 billion dollers lost to save their lives then I'm fine with it. Sure go after the crooks but you need to take care of the victims first.
Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.
Jackalope wrote:Ok wait, so why slam FEMA if they were scammed ? people reported PO boxes as destroyed houses and FEMA tried to help them. Seems to me that all this does is prove how FEMA tried to help the people of the gulf coast and how they stole from basicly all of us since FEMA is federaly funded through taxes. So I'd be pissed at the theives not the one who got robbed.
Well I can't disagree that lives come first but that is no excuse for this kind or level of incompetency.
article wrote:To dramatize the problem, investigators provided lawmakers with a copy of a $2,358 U.S. Treasury check for rental assistance that an undercover agent received using a bogus address. The money was paid even after FEMA learned from its inspector that the undercover applicant did not live at the address.
You want to tell me that is not an example of incompetence? Problem is - they are spending your(the tax-payer's) money not theirs. They clock in, do their job to absolute minimum standards, and they don't care.
article wrote:The investigative agency said it found people lodged in hotels often were paid twice, since FEMA gave them individual rental assistance and paid hotels directly. FEMA paid California hotels $8,000 to house one individual — the same person who received three rental assistance payments for both disasters.
In another instance, FEMA paid an individual $2,358 in rental assistance, while at the same time paying about $8,000 for the same person to stay 70 nights at more than $100 per night in a Hawaii hotel.
Why can't they have some protocol to stop this? A simple piece of software could do this easily. It would take long to write either. Hell I could write it myself fairly quickly. I'm sure the government could do a "little" more if they cared.
article wrote:"Our forensic audit and investigative work showed that improper and potentially fraudulent payments occurred mainly because FEMA did not validate the identity of the registrant, the physical location of the damaged address, and ownership and occupancy of all registrants at the time of registration," GAO officials said.
translation - lazy and incompetent employees
article wrote:The GAO told of an individual who used 13 different Social Security numbers — including the person's own — to receive $139,000 in payments on 13 separate registrations for aid. All the payments were sent to a single address.
Again a simple piece of software could have stopped this.
article wrote:FEMA paid millions of dollars to more than 1,000 registrants who used names and Social Security numbers belonging to state and federal prisoners for expedited housing assistance. The inmates were in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida.
FEMA made about $5.3 million in payments to registrants who provided a post office box as their damaged residence, including one who got $2,748 for listing an Alabama post office box as the damaged property.
Oh come on!! Using a P.O. Box address as your damaged residence!? I mean you can't see that while filling out paperwork!? You want to tell me nothing is wrong there? And using prisoners info to collect? Again something a little software could fix. The prisoners(besides obviously having no need for housing lol) where often in other states that where not even hit. Funny though - when people really needed help - they dropped the ball. And yet now they throw money at people who don't need it. Hey I should get in on that action lol.
I've never heard of this "part throttle" before. Does it just bolt on?
see... it all boils down to one of the 10 commandments
Tho Shalt Not STEAL.
Stealing somebody's credit card number on TV to buy Girls Gone Wild videos
That was his money for food and shelter
I remember after Hurricane Andrew my neighbor bought a Lexus. Which I'm assuming he slept in since his house didn't have a roof.
Round 1 Heat v Bulls 4-2 HEAT
Round 2 Heat v Nets 4-1 HEAT
East Finals Heat v Pistons 4-2 HEAT
NBA Finals Heat v Mavericks 2-1 MAVS
SAC Forums
Ok they had on the news this morning that its almost a billion not over so I guess that article may be a little inaccurate.
Oh and a FEMA spokes woman said the exact same thing I did, That they would rather get the money out and help as many as they can as quickly as they can rather then add any more red tape and that they will go after those who did scam them.
Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.
Yeah and they could've done a little more than just hand out the money to every Tom, Dick & Harriet that came crying. They could've looked over the applications before handing out the money. They could've asked for State ID. They should have never sent the money to anybody using a PO box address or address of a Jail since prisoners have no need for money. Anymore stealing from the government is like stealing from the blind.
Is it too late to get one of those credit cards I wonder ? I could use a new deck !
Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.
i can see blaming FEMA a little on this but what about the people that extorted FEMA? thats ridicious. now watch next time a hurricane or something else comes through. i bet people are gonna start thinking twice about donating any money.
true some people wont stop but i bet some people will and for those that do donate i bet some of them wont give nearly as much as they wanted to. i know my friends father donated a ton of money for hurricane katrina (somewhere around the 10k mark). id be pissed if i knew thats what my money went to
Maybe people got PO boxes to get the checks mailed to, since their houses were destroyed and quarenteened? I dunno, I am just fishing for answers. Let's say my house was destroyed in New Orleans. I moved out to Alabama and stayed in a hotel while looking for a place to live. While waiting for my relief check, I gave them a PO address to send my money to. I dunno, like I said. I am just fishing.
Team GREEN
Suspension Division - "Handling Before Horsepower"
Making the turns since 1999
1998 EK Civic Hatch - Yes, it's a Honda.
RaiLS wrote:Maybe people got PO boxes to get the checks mailed to, since their houses were destroyed and quarenteened? I dunno, I am just fishing for answers. Let's say my house was destroyed in New Orleans. I moved out to Alabama and stayed in a hotel while looking for a place to live. While waiting for my relief check, I gave them a PO address to send my money to. I dunno, like I said. I am just fishing.
Not quite - read it again. They used a P.O. Box as the address of their "destroyed home," not as their mailing address which is different. I'm sure some people with their house intact was probably filling that address as the "destroyed home" and current mailing address. I mean I probably could have applied using my Illinois address and got a new car lol.
I've never heard of this "part throttle" before. Does it just bolt on?
Why dont you whiners go play a nice game of hide-and-go-@!#$-yourself.
As much as i hate government and think every one of the berocratic types should have thier fingernails ripped out and thier mouth used as a urinal--this is one case where they did the right @!#$ thing so I have to come to thier defence.
It was a @!#$ war zone--what the hell were folks SUPPOSED to use as a mailing address??--a drowned pile of rubble?? were the F U C K is the the postman going to put the mail? (never mind that the places are UNDER F U C K I N G WATER and the post cant get there.
Jesus freaking christ--all incompitance aside--here is a case FOR ONCE--of useless buerocrats actually doing doing the right right and helping those in need, and all you guys can do is bitch they screwed up because they they were too generous.
No wonder I quit aviation after 9-11 and refuse to help in any way. The entire f u c k i n g human race is nothing more than kindergarten crybabys.
Rice.....Part of a balanced Pontiac diet.
91 Sunbird SSE wrote:Why dont you whiners go play a nice game of hide-and-go-@!#$-yourself.
As much as i hate government and think every one of the berocratic types should have thier fingernails ripped out and thier mouth used as a urinal--this is one case where they did the right @!#$ thing so I have to come to thier defence.
It was a @!#$ war zone--what the hell were folks SUPPOSED to use as a mailing address??--a drowned pile of rubble?? were the F U C K is the the postman going to put the mail? (never mind that the places are UNDER F U C K I N G WATER and the post cant get there.
Jesus freaking christ--all incompitance aside--here is a case FOR ONCE--of useless buerocrats actually doing doing the right right and helping those in need, and all you guys can do is bitch they screwed up because they they were too generous.
No wonder I quit aviation after 9-11 and refuse to help in any way. The entire f u c k i n g human race is nothing more than kindergarten crybabys.
First off I'll go ahead and let you play that game by yourself. Second, this is not a case of anyone doing the right thing. This is a case of government workers who don't give a @!#$ enough to do even basic checks(which would take at most minutes - and less time as I said with a simple piece of software that does basic checks like if that address even exist etc etc). They don't give a @!#$ because it is not their money they are spending and their is no consequence.
Note this again
article wrote:To dramatize the problem, investigators provided lawmakers with a copy of a $2,358 U.S. Treasury check for rental assistance that an undercover agent received using a bogus address. The money was paid even after FEMA learned from its inspector that the undercover applicant did not live at the address.
91 Sunbird SSE wrote:It was a @!#$ war zone--what the hell were folks SUPPOSED to use as a mailing address??--a drowned pile of rubble?? were the F U C K is the the postman going to put the mail? (never mind that the places are UNDER F U C K I N G WATER and the post cant get there.
You need to learn to read before you want to contribute your argument. I'll spell this out for you, ok?
First name - John
Last name - Smith
Previous address that is destroyed thanks to Katrina(which is why you are filling this thing out) - P.O. Box 6059 , New Orleans, Louisiana 94589
Current place to mail your relief check(because Katrina destroyed your old home which is listed above) - 304 S. Water street, Houston, Texas 61928
The point is that people claim their old home was a P.O. Box, and that their P.O. Box (which is where they lived lol) is now destroyed, therefore they are homeless and deserve a check. Obviously they are claiming for a residence that never existed.
For a worker to fill out the paperwork and not read that - well that is impossible. They had to copy the info in some form(requiring they read it), most likely typing it into a computer database etc. You cannot read that and yet not know it's bogus. But that doesn't mean you have to care.
I've never heard of this "part throttle" before. Does it just bolt on?
wow that sucks...16 million dollars wasted on people who didnt need help.....that money could have went to the people that still dont have any help since the storms......
sucks that there are people out there cruel enough to fraud a disaster relief orginazation...
R.I.P. Kasey N. Burleson
just like bastardking said
a simple piece of software created to cross check if multiple applicatiosn are filed at the same addres.
also cross check addres with that of REAL addresses on NO
checking ss#'s for duplicates
it would seriously be a SIMPLE program to write. any first year programmer could do it. and do it within 2 days (frankly within hours, but then to create the database of real addresses would take a bit longer)
and it would have saved a TON of money.
The biggest hole, is the illusion of invulnerability.
:::
Creative Draft Image Manipulation Forum:::
Just makes me sad that people would steal from others in need. It's like stealing change out of a poor guy's pocket. I mean, I would have never even had a thought like that cross my mind.
PS - edit saves me again from a stupid grammatical error.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Wednesday, June 21, 2006 1:59 PM
Team GREEN
Suspension Division - "Handling Before Horsepower"
Making the turns since 1999
1998 EK Civic Hatch - Yes, it's a Honda.
Nate: running that kind of a program, taking in the information, cross-checking, and evaluating errata isn't something you do on the outset.
That's for back checking.
Get the money out there ASAP, and deal with the backwash afterwards. It's the way the Gov't works, look at it like this: think of the outrage that would have been whipped up if, in addition to the utter inefficiency that happened, the problem was compounded by the wait to get issued a card .
Transeat In Exemplum: Let this stand as the example.
i dont see how it would have taken any longer.
instead of enterign the applications into whatever program they did, enter it into the program i described first. if everything turns out ok finish the app as usual.
maybe an extra 1 minute per app.
seems like a valuable 1 minute to save $$$$$$ going to crooks.
i do understand that the gvrnmnt doesnt run liek that tho.
The biggest hole, is the illusion of invulnerability.
:::
Creative Draft Image Manipulation Forum:::
