But it gets better. Those bodies have to be picked up by someone. Kenyon International has mobilized to begin the operation. Kenyon International is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Houston-based Service Corporation International . Robert Waltrip, CEO of SCI, used the power of then governor George Bush to quash an investigation into SCI’s operations. Here is a nice summary of the “Funeralgate” affair.
[Mock Republican Reply] Well, is there anyone more qualified for the job? If not, then what’s your beef here? [/MRR]
[Mock Republican Reply] Again, who’s more qualified? And haven’t you been bitching that the administration has been too slow to respond? So now they’re responding immediately by hiring a company they think is best qualified to get started immediately and screw the “red tape” and “bureaucracy” y’all on The Left have been bitching about, and we’re still scum? Can’t win for losing with you guys. [/MRR]
Is it definitely a newly awarded contract? Not something that was arranged or otherwise in the works before Katrina hit?
If it’s a decision reached subsequent to the floodwaters washing over the busted levee, then yeah, they simply don’t get it. (Even if there was a preexisting contract with Halliburton, this can’t play terribly well. That name just keeps turning up, doesn’t it?)
This is a flat out lie, which a simple reading of the article that you linked to demonstrates. From the link that you posted (underline mine):
And you wonder why nobody except for other Bush-is-the-Antichrist hysterics takes you seriously when you start to foam at the mouth. But hey, don’t let facts get in the way of a good partisan wankfest. Have at it.
Oh and by the way, if you’re so upset, why weren’t you bitching about this, say, LAST JULY, when the contracts were awarded?
Can someone tell me why we’re bothering to rebuild those facilities, considering we just went through a big to-do over base closures and budget cutbacks? Wouldn’t it be easier to write off the destroyed facilities and then let a few of the planned closures stay open to pick up the pace?
Second link, the so-called ‘summary’, is either leaving out major facts, or you’ve completely mischaracterized it.
You say: “Waltrip, CEO of SCI, used the power of then governor George Bush to quash an investigation into SCI’s operations.”
The article states: “On August 3, the T.F.S.C. voted to fine S.C.I. $445,000 for violations of embalming laws.”
So, was the investigation quashed, or did it succeed in coming up with enough to convince the board to fine the S.C.I.?
As for “using Bush”, please use your reading comprehension skills on the following paragraphs:
" month after the surprise inspection of the S.C.I. funeral homes, May found herself in the office of Governor Bush’s chief of staff, Joe Allbaugh. According to May, Waltrip was also there with his Austin lawyer Johnnie B. Rogers Sr. So was McNeil and Senator John Whitmire, the Houston Democrat who had requested the meeting. As May recalls, shortly after she sat down Whitmire began demanding all the details of her investigation into S.C.I.’s operations, while Waltrip sat and listened… Whitmire denies trying to slow or stop the Commission’s investigation, but said he was trying to be a mediator, and called for the meeting “to try to bring all the parties together to try to resolve the issues. It was an opportunity to sit down and work out and to see what the complaints were and to give everyone an opportunity to go forward.” May, however, believes the meeting “was clearly designed to intimidate me and to obtain information about what we were doing. They were unhappy with the fact that I was doing this investigation.”"
So, Democrat Whitmire demands a meeting and a status of the investigation, Democrat Whitmire jumps all over Inspector May, Democrat Whitmire had to “[deny] trying to slow or stop the… investigation”… and it’s Bush who is the big boogey-man pulling the strings?
Dude. Please actually read the fucking articles, then re-read them, before you come a-runnin’ to the SDMB to gleefully shit on Bush. You’ll save yourself a lot of trouble, and look less like a partisan hack idiot. And we’ve already got a rjung.
What is to explain? You have a link to something called “bushfiles” which tells a story about a dispute between one funeral company and a Texas regulatory body. It was written from an anti-Bush POV and contains no references, no cites, no attempts at documentation. What do you want me to comment on? It’s a worthless link. It’s an opinion piece. The other link in that paragraph about Katrina specific body handling is broken. What am I supposed to comment on there?
I agree that it would be worth taking a second look at that. It may be that logistical and geographical reasons would still require the bases to be repaired, but it wouldn’t hurt to think again.
Let me go back and see if I can find better and more neutral sources. I’ll admit the OP needed more work before being released. If a mod will kindly close the thread, I will come back with better ammo.
Depends on why it was decided to keep them open. If we’re rebuilding New Orleans, and one of the bases was a local base for the Army Corps of Engineers, it’d seem kind of stupid- IMO- to let that base stay destroyed and let the ACoE relocate to, say, Arkansas and just commute or something.
Likewise, Navy bases might be more useful in the New Orleans area than in, say, Kansas. (Wasn’t there a submarine base in Kansas at one point? Closed down in 1989 or something?)
The contract in question was awarded to “provide debris removal and other emergency work associated with natural disasters”, not specifically to repair this naval installation, now scheduled to be closed. The payout to KBR is $12 million to perform this work at this facility. Not sure if this is because it won’t actually cease operations for a while, or just so the Navy won’t be adandoning a mess (lots of closed military bases are ceded to the cities where they are located, a closed base in San Antonio is an evacuee shelter for example).