Feds to Katrinians: Go Spork Yourselves, $36 million worth

For those of you who missed the horrific blurb on CNN.com, it seems the government overestimated the amount of aid it has yet to get to Katrina victims. Previously, The General Services Administration (GSA), which manages federal property, listed the government aid languishing in warehouses at $85,000,000. Turns out they were wrong by a factor of 4

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Gay Math Addicts Get No Love from Orange County

Ed McKie wants to create a safe space for gay recovering meth addicts in the Santa Ana Artists’ Village. His efforts have gone . . . about how you’d expect. From OC Weekly. By Vickie Chang

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HUNGRY FOR CHANGE

SFObsm

Farewell, Ferry Queen

By Alex Brant-Zawadzki

One of San Francisco's finest, proudest and earliest queens may soon be laid to rest for fear it might become too flaming.

The Delta Queen, currently steaming up and down the Mississippi, is "America's last proper paddle-wheeled steamboat," according to an Economist article lamenting the ship's potential demise. The Queen was ordered in 1924, built in Scotland then sent to Stockton in pieces in 1926, where the California Transportation Company ran it between Sacramento, Stockton and San Francisco. During World War II the ship was requisitioned for Navy duty, serving as both a floating barrack as well as a ferry in the San Francisco Bay.

How the ship found its way from San Francisco to the mighty Mississippi? The answer can be found at Save The Delta Queen, a group which has sprung up to save the superstructure. From an Open Letter to Congress as posted on the site:

Dear Members of Congress,

My name is Charles Greene. My dad, Robert Greene, was ferried off to his WWII troop ship in San Francisco Bay aboard the Delta Queen, which then returned loaded with wounded troops. My dad came back from the war. Far too many did not.

In 1947, my grandfather’s cousin, Tom Greene, bought the Delta Queen, had her towed from California to Cincinnati, and put her into operation carrying passengers up and down the Mississippi River and its tributaries just as steamboats had done for more than 100 years.

Read the rest on the world-famous SF Weekly news & politics blog, The Snitch

Go Spork Yourselves!

Originally Posted On The World-Famous SF Weekly Political Blog, The Snitch

Feds to Katrinians: Go Spork Yourselves
Wed Jul 23, 2008 at 10:37:45 PM

For those of you who missed the horrific blurb on CNN.com, it seems the government overestimated the amount of aid it has yet to get to Katrina victims.

Previously, The General Services Administration (GSA), which manages federal property, listed the government aid languishing in warehouses at $85,000,000.

Turns out they were wrong by a factor of four or so. In fact the victims of Hurricane Katrina have only been waiting in vain for EIGHTEEN (point five) million dollars, not eighty-five. And yet somehow it doesn't sting any less.

From CNN.com:

"The original GSA estimate of $85 million should have been $18.5 million, according to figures released by GSA and FEMA. ...GSA officials were asked recently to reassess the total cost of donated items in what the agency called a routine audit. "In doing so, it was determined that some of the unit costs were 'eaches' and others were 'for-case' lots. The final adjustments reveal there was a significant overstatement in the total asset valuation," GSA officials reported to FEMA, which released the findings Monday. For example, each spork was assigned the value of an entire case, inflating the original estimated value of the supplies a thousandfold to $36 million from $36,000. Packs of toilet paper originally estimated to be worth $1.5 million dropped to about $18,000, and plastic cutlery kits, from $6.3 million to about $25,000."

This of course begs the obvious question: where the hell does one find individually-sold sporks, let alone generate a price listing for one? Where, I ask you?

No, the obvious question is actually, "The government thought they were sending Katrinians THIRTY-SIX MILLION dollars worth of SPORKS? And no one saw this as odd?"

"Hey there, friend. We're sorry your house blew away and/or flooded, not necessarily in that order; have some sporks. No, really, take as many as you want."

No one found it odd that 42% of Katrina aid had apparently been spent on sporks? This goes beyond failure of oversight. Someone failed to oversee, undersee, or see anything outside the inside of their own ass.

Cracking Open A Miller

Cracking Open a Miller
Posted by Alex Brant-Zawadzki in 241 Toll Road

Congressman Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar) has jack-assed his way back into the news. Seems he owns $20,000 in toll road bonds. What's the big deal? Miller is a big-time toll-road supporter, putting his signature on letters of support to the project as well as garnering earmark after earmark of pork-barrel tax-payer dollars for the project, the completion of which is necessary for the return of Miller's money.

The Register tried out a new tactic this week and actually did some reporting for a change:

"Financial disclosures for Rep. Gary Miller, a land developer who represents Orange, San Bernardino and Los Angeles Counties, show he purchased $20,000 in Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency bonds in 2000. The bonds pay investors a fixed rate and are repaid by drivers' tolls."

Though Miller has repeatedly signed financial disclosure forms listing the bonds, he expressed surprise when asked about that investment. Miller said his wife must have purchased the bonds and added that she is largely responsible for the family's investment decisions.

Read the rest on OC WEEKLY'S WORLD-FAMOUS STAFF BLOG, NAVEL GAZING