# FEMA: It's almost funny this time **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 11, 2005, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fema-its-almost-funny-this-time/321047 "2005-09-11T01:12:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fema-its-almost-funny-this-time/321047/21 "2005-09-12T01:04:21Z")
> [@Snakescatlady](#): > > Read on FARK his morning where two people who received debit cards used them in Atlanta to purchase $800 purses at the Louis Vitton store at Lenox Square. Well, $2000 isn’t enough for a new Cadillac. ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fema-its-almost-funny-this-time/321047/22 "2005-09-12T01:09:49Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > No, what you read was that some of the cards had been used in Atlanta. > > “Hey, man, I got $400 cash to buy your card.” > > Good move, FEMA. Always thinking ahead. No, what I read was what I posted, except I spelled Vuitton incorrectly. A “senior employee” of the store at Lenox Square in Atlanta was quoted as saying two of the $800 purses had been purchased. I’m sorry I don’t know how to post the link, but I’m sure there can’t be that many "FARK"s around. And I went back and checked again after I read your post. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fema-its-almost-funny-this-time/321047/23 "2005-09-12T01:16:43Z")
> [@Snakescatlady](#): > > No, what I read was what I posted, except I spelled Vuitton incorrectly. A “senior employee” of the store at Lenox Square in Atlanta was quoted as saying two of the $800 purses had been purchased. I’m sorry I don’t know how to post the link, but I’m sure there can’t be that many "FARK"s around. > > And I went back and checked again after I read your post. The [source](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/345032p-294601c.html) for fark was a gossip column in the New York Daily News. Not perhaps the equivilant of the Socialist News, but not far off. (Click the hyperlink icon (the globe) that show above the reply area, enter the text you want to appear,click OK, then paste the link from the page, click OK.) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fema-its-almost-funny-this-time/321047/24 "2005-09-12T01:39:10Z")
> [@Snakescatlady](#): > > No, what I read was what I posted, except I spelled Vuitton incorrectly. A “senior employee” of the store at Lenox Square in Atlanta was quoted as saying two of the $800 purses had been purchased. I’m sorry I don’t know how to post the link, but I’m sure there can’t be that many "FARK"s around. > > And I went back and checked again after I read your post. If you only read Fark’s misleading summary(“Your tax dollars at work: Katrina victims using their FEMA-provided debit cards to buy $800 Louis Vuitton purses and other luxury items”) you might have thought the users of the cards were the recipients of the cards. But, since you read the original article, you must have noticed that nowhere did it say that the users were the recipients of the cards. I was merely saying that the users were perhaps NOT the recipients of the card. We have no evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fema-its-almost-funny-this-time/321047/25 "2005-09-12T02:04:00Z")
> [@Purd Werfect](#): > > At this point, I have to wonder at the level of cognitive dissonance exploding the heads of those conspiracy theorists who have staunchly held that FEMA is the primary policing organ of the “Secret Government”. > > Seeing them as an all-powerful puppetmaster should stretch the credulousness of even the most anally probed tinfoil hat abductees. > > Perhaps it’s all part of the illusion though. I just took some extra tinfoil to my brother tonight. He’s been up late listening to the police scanners and talking to some internet people…I guess I could reveal “the plan”, but I have kind of a headache :eek: right now. ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fema-its-almost-funny-this-time/321047/26 "2005-09-12T03:15:43Z")
Would FEMA just hand out blank cards that could be sold? With no name or anything requiring ID for them to be used? That’s the stupidest thing…oh, that’s right, the discussion was about FEMA. I stupidly assumed (and you know what they say about assumptions) that the government wasn’t stupid enough to do that. I haven’t quite gotten my brain around the fact that the government isn’t as “in control” as I’ve been hearing for the last four years. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fema-its-almost-funny-this-time/321047/27 "2005-09-12T03:19:39Z")
got any proof that the refugees have ID?? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fema-its-almost-funny-this-time/321047/28 "2005-09-12T04:39:39Z")
> [@Snakescatlady](#): > > Would FEMA just hand out blank cards that could be sold? With no name or anything requiring ID for them to be used? Have you _ever_ been asked to supply ID when paying by debit card? ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fema-its-almost-funny-this-time/321047/29 "2005-09-12T05:37:12Z")
Ok, I’m stupid. I just never considered FEMA would give out debit cards that could be sold. I never met a purse worth $800, either. I’ll just climb back in my ivory tower, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fema-its-almost-funny-this-time/321047/30 "2005-09-12T06:24:32Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > Have you _ever_ been asked to supply ID when paying by debit card? At the risk of stating the obvious, your PIN is your ID as far as debit cards are concerned. Do we know how the FEMA-issued cards worked? PIN or signature? Or neither (which would be so colossally… oh, right). ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fema-its-almost-funny-this-time/321047/31 "2005-09-12T07:26:34Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > If you only read Fark’s misleading summary(“Your tax dollars at work: Katrina victims using their FEMA-provided debit cards to buy $800 Louis Vuitton purses and other luxury items”) you might have thought the users of the cards were the recipients of the cards. > > But, since you read the original article, you must have noticed that nowhere did it say that the users were the recipients of the cards. Hey, it’s the weekend; I’m sure the right-wing noise machine will spin this effectively come Monday morning. By mid-week, I expect to see the lead item on Fox News to be on the “mounting scandal” of Hurricane Katrina victims using their FEMA debit cards to buy crack cocaine and scam a poor innocent Houston Hummer dealer out of a half-dozen shiny new H2s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fema-its-almost-funny-this-time/321047.md?page=1)