Friday, September 30, 2005

Greece Offers Free Ships/ Carnival Gets $236 Mills

AssocPress: The nation of Greece on Sept 4 offered to donate 2 cruise ships to the US as part of humanitarian aid for Katrina evacuees. 2 senators, Sens Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Barack Obama (D-IL) have asked DHS's secretary Chertoff and FEMA to explain why exactly they chose to sign a $236 million deal with Carnival Cruise Lines for evacuee housing when Greece was ready to provide 2 ships for free. The 6 month deal w/ Carnival for 3 full-service cruise ships — which now sit mostly empty in the Gulf Coast — has been criticized by lawmakers of both parties as a prime example of wasted spending in Hurricane Katrina-related contracts. "Even if the Carnival contract were a good one -and it almost certainly is not- it is inexplicable why FEMA would fail to implement the Greek govt's offer of free cruise ships," the senators wrote. No it is not. I'm sure Carnival will repay the favor w/massive campaign contributions.
Posted by Tina :: 12:31 AM :: 0 Comments:

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