Senators probe La. requests for laptops, golf carts after Katrina

sabra

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Fri Dec-09-05 07:41 AM
Original message

Senators probe La. requests for laptops, golf carts after Katrina

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-12-09-katrina-investigation_x.htm

Senators probe La. requests for laptops, golf carts after Katrina
WASHINGTON (AP) � A senator leading an investigation into the government's response to Hurricane Katrina questioned whether requests after the storm by New Orleans officials for golf carts, air conditioners and travel aid were necessary.

Documents released Thursday by Republican aides to a Senate committee show that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's administration also asked for hundreds of laptop computers, patrol cars, handcuffs and guns for police. There was looting in the flooded city after the Aug. 29 storm, and many of its police cars and other vehicles and equipment were destroyed.

The city's police chief defended the requests Thursday, saying that the Federal Emergency Management Agency told the police department to "think big" in asking for supplies lost in the storm.

But "they struck me as not the typical request," said Sen. Susan Collins, leading a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing that examined FEMA's response operations.

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Cessna Invesco Palin

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Fri Dec-09-05 07:48 AM
Response to Original message

1. BULLSHIT.

Golf Carts are incredibly versatile vehicles - easy to maintain and with low running costs. Somehow methinks they weren't going to be used for playing golf.

Laptops? What the hell is wrong with that?

Air Conditioners? IT'S LOUISIANA.

Jesus Christ. Criticism from the pork-barrel spending kings and queens of the universe.

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mbperrin

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Fri Dec-09-05 07:56 AM
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2. Not a 'typical' request?

So these storms and the NOLA damage were 'typical' to Ms. Collins? I would suggest she live there in the hardest hit area until everything is restored. Perhaps then she could see whether or not things like air-conditioning are 'typical.'

AND thank goodness the investigation is underway, now that everything there is hunky-dory, right? I mean, it's not like we need to actually be doing anything, like finding out where those 6,000 unaccounted for are....

Reading about people this cruel and heartless this early in the day makes my head ache.

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One_Life_To_Give

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Fri Dec-09-05 08:02 AM
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3. Guess she doesn't watch COPS

Not that I watch it with any regularity. But enough to have seen laptops integrated into the car/radio system for online access to NCIC etc. Or maybe she gets her information on modern cops from TVLand reruns of Adam-12?

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liberal N proud

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Fri Dec-09-05 08:21 AM
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4. At first thought, Golf Carts? But in a city like NOLA

I can see where the Police Department would have great use for such a vehicle. Also they would be very versatile in the areas where travel by automobile is still prohibitive due to debris.

Laptops, well duh, they are necessary to generate databases of damage and property as well as write reports on the damage.
Air Conditioners - HELLO! NEW ORLEANS, do you think maybe they are not a luxury item as say they might be in Ohio?

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jsamuel

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Fri Dec-09-05 08:35 AM
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5. Someone here is dredging up the past trying to score afew political points

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BJW

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Fri Dec-09-05 12:05 PM
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6. This is part of the promised REPUG push-back

Remember that the police headquarters, some outlying buildlings, patrol cars, and the jail were all destroyed and or non-functioning after Katrina. OF COURSE they need equiment for the police department to function.

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Lindsay

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Fri Dec-09-05 12:08 PM
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7. My town uses golf carts for patrolling festivals

and other places where there are a lot of pedestrians. So the request sounds perfectly logical to me.

But Repugs are gonna question everything. After all, NO has been a Democratic area.

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GregW

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Fri Dec-09-05 12:17 PM
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8. They should have asked for a bridge to a deserted island

Now THAT'S something our pork-barrel rethuglicans can relate to.

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Al-CIAda

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Fri Dec-09-05 12:19 PM
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9. A/C units were flying off the shelves....

Entire truckloads were being shipped in by Home Depot, Lowes. etc... many people whose central units were destroyed bought them up, along with 1000's of generators to run them...and fridges as well. It was still 90+/- degrees then.

Golf carts were seen in my area, using them to transport items in the local area.

Laptops?, well, I know I bought a laptop for the first time right after the storm. It became required actually as a way to find out what was going on while I was away. It is a good thing I did too, as when I finally got back home, my machine was ruined...and forget about finding one locally back then.

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proud2BlibKansan

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Fri Dec-09-05 12:23 PM
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10. So why don't they deserve laptops?

Don't other police officers all over the country have them? Golf carts too.

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lynne

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Fri Dec-09-05 01:19 PM
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11. These appear to be items that would be reimbursed by -

- insurance. Didn't NO carry insurance on their city owned property?

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funkybutt

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Fri Dec-09-05 01:23 PM
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12. They're really reaching

they'll use anything they can to make us look bad. Us being Louisiana. I'm SICK of having to explain and justify our existence. Let's research what requests FLORIDA has had in past emergencies. I'm sure we could find some atypical requests.

oh and by the way Senator Collins...fuck you.

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