FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES

HAVING FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES helps in getting Katrina rebuilding contracts.  Whether George Bush is still as high as he used to be and thinks the public will stand for this remains to been seen. The profits for cronies obviously will be obscene. Welcome to the porn of power.  You suck?  You’re hired!

AVERAGE JOES NEED NOT APPLY Contracts will be given out to well connected, below average Joe performers.[story]

RECOMMENDED READING
[CNN] At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.
One is Shaw Group Inc. and the other is Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.

KRUGMAN SEES IRAQ PART TWO [NYTIMES] All that's missing from the Katrina story is an expensive reconstruction effort, with lucrative deals for politically connected companies, that fails to deliver essential services. But give it time - they're working on that, too.
Why did the administration make the same mistakes twice? Because it paid no political price the first time.

IS THIS WHITE HOUSE UNTOUCHABLE? This White House thinks it's untouchable.  As TChris pointed out earlier today, Bush's poll numbers continue to drop.  Sooner or later, the American public is going to say "enough." [more at TALK LEFT]

IT'S NOT GONNA HAPPEN The city of New Orleans is not going to be rebuilt . . .  All the brave rhetoric about the indomitable human spirit notwithstanding, we may want to consider some realities. As much as it causes heartache to those of us who love New Orleans -- the whole place, not just the one of myth and memory -- cities are not forever. Look at Babylon, Carthage, Pompeii. [JOEL GARREAU/WASHINGTON POST]

CYNICISM INC Really, this Katrina thing promises to work out well for the Bush Team. Congress promises to shovel billions of dollars to federal agencies staffed with Bush cronies. And they can be counted on to pass most of these dollars along to other Bush cronies in the private sector. [MAHA]

Comments

[xristim]

And how about this bit of sleight of hand from http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050908-7.html ?

Message to the Congress of the United States Regarding Hurricane Katrina

I hereby report that I have exercised my statutory authority under section 3147 of title 40, United States Code, to suspend the provisions of 40 U.S.C. 3141-3148 in the event of a national emergency. I have found that the conditions caused by Hurricane Katrina constitute a "national emergency" within the meaning of section 3147. I have, therefore, suspended the provisions of 40 U.S.C. 3141-3148 in designated areas in the States of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

This action is more fully set out in the enclosed proclamation that I have issued today.

GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,

September 8, 2005.

What? You don't recognize the sections of the US Code being cited? Well…

http://www.ombwatch.org/article/blogs/entry/1036/38 - Bush Suspends Minimum Pay for Contract Workers

The White House announced that it is suspending its obligations under the Davis-Bacon Act to require a fair minimum wage for contractors working on the reconstruction and recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The Davis-Bacon Act prohibits the federal government from undercutting prevailing wages in the construction industry in areas where the federal government is contracting for work. The administration is required to ensure that its contracts establish minimum wages for workers that comport with the prevailing wage of the area. The White House invoked the act's exemption for national emergencies.

The irony here is that the devastation of Hurricane Katrina was compounded by poverty and low wages -- factors that kept many from evacuating in time. Now the Bush administration is empowering itself to pay substandard wages for the reconstruction effort.

Posted by Robert Shull

And in case you just can't believe your eyes, here's another version from

http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/08/news/economy/katrina_wages.reut/ - Bush lifts wage rules for Katrina - President signs executive order allowing contractors to pay below prevailing wage in affected areas.

Snippet:
President Bush issued an executive order Thursday allowing federal contractors rebuilding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to pay below the prevailing wage.

In a notice to Congress, Bush said the hurricane had caused "a national emergency" that permits him to take such action under the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act in ravaged areas of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.

The Davis-Bacon law requires federal contractors to pay workers at least the prevailing wages in the area where the work is conducted. It applies to federally funded construction projects such as highways and bridges.

Bush's executive order suspends the requirements of the Davis-Bacon law for designated areas hit by the storm.

Bush's action came as the federal government moved to provide billions of dollars in aid, and drew rebukes from two of organized labor's biggest friends in Congress, Rep. George Miller of California and Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, both Democrats.

"The administration is using the devastation of Hurricane Katrina to cut the wages of people desperately trying to rebuild their lives and their communities," Miller said.

"President Bush should immediately realize the colossal mistake he has made in signing this order and rescind it and ensure that America puts its people back to work in the wake of Katrina at wages that will get them and their families back on their feet," Miller said.

"I regret the president's decision," said Kennedy.

"One of the things the American people are very concerned about is shabby work and that certainly is true about the families whose houses are going to be rebuilt and buildings that are going to be restored," Kennedy said.

Back to me:

Now THERE's a sure way to help stamp out the poverty that's risen by 17% during his Presidency -- and left thousands of people stranded in the city of New Orleans, giving rise to the furor the Chief of the Counterfeit Compassionate Conservative And Oh Yeah By The Way Conspicuously Caucasian Caucus and his Dither of Dolts are now trying to bury.

Oh, and lest you think this action has not been carefully thought through, let me hasten to add that contracts for some of the reconstruction have already been let – and are going to friends and supporters and campaign contributors of the Chief and his Dither (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/diary/story/0,,1565941,00.html and http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/news/hurricane_katrina.html ) .

See how cleverly that works?

The crisis that would have been less severe had the Chief and his Dither acted in timely and competent fashion is now of such magnitude that it can be used as an excuse to lower pay standards because of the urgency of rebuilding, which rebuilding will be done by pals of the Chief and the Dither – with a lot less payroll expense than they would otherwise have faced.

Are we getting the drift here yet?

[What can we do to stop this corruption]

Send complaints to a White House that could not care less? Complain to Sen McCain who has been invisible? Rely on the press to kiss every ass they see?

[Tata]

Being from Jersey, I understand that corruption in a certain way can make things very effective. Our corruption is not like - say - Ohio's, which brings everything to screeching halts. In fact, I wonder why you're not issued earplugs as you leave Pennsylvania, but that's another story.

Thing is: if I were - say - a big old company in the same line o' work as Halliburton and I - say - wanted those contracts the government is handing over without bidding, I might - maybe - fire up my legal teams and file me some world class lawsuits.

If we're saying there are other companies that could be doing the work Halliburton's collecting without a fight who is it specifically who's not putting up their dukes?

[unknown]

this is a discrasful picture. This is rude and stupid. I despise you.