Whatever happened to the victims of which was one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States. It was the sixth-strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the third-strongest hurricane on record that made land-fall in the United States.

At least 1,836 people lost their lives as a result of hurricane Katrina and in the subsequent floods, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane. The storm is estimated to have been responsible for $81.2 billion (2005 U.S. dollars) in damage, making it the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. 

Even though many people lost their lives, there are thousands have have lost everything they owned in addition to having lost their livelihoods.

It is no secret that George Bush and his administration’s handling of the disaster has been a disaster. Initially they were totally inept and treated the victims as if they were lepers. The mainstream media (MSM) has not been much better except for the few sensational stories that fueled their ratings.

If you ask any government agency they’ll tell you they’re “handling the job” and that the worst is over.

 The Hattiesburg American reported that the Louisiana's Road Home program has closed more than 100,000 grants to homeowners trying to rebuild after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, however statistics supplied by unaudited agencies are always suspect.

If you are like me, you’ve heard too many horror stories about people having to jump throught umteem “governmental hoops” before they are asked to jumo through some more and then maybe.…MAYBE thery will get some relief. It’s a sad commentary when victims of catastrophic disasters are treat as perpetrators.

Here one story that brings a tear……

Imagine that your home was reduced to mold-covered wood framing by Hurricane Katrina. Desperate for money to rebuild, you engage in a frustrating bureaucratic process, and after months of living in a government provided-trailer that gives off formaldehyde fumes you finally win a federal grant.Then a collector announces that you have to pay back thousands of dollars.For thousands of Katrina victims, this may be a reality.

A private contractor under investigation for the compensation it received to run the Road Home grant program for Katrina victims says that in the rush to deliver aid to homeowners in need some people got too much. Now it wants to hire a separate company to collect millions in grant overpayments.

The contractor, ICF International of Fairfax, Va., revealed the extent of the overpayments when it issued a March 11 request for bids from companies willing to handle "approximately 1,000 to 5,000 cases that will necessitate collection effort."

The bid invitation said: "The average amount to be collected is estimated to be approximately $35,000, but in some cases may be as high as $100,000 to $150,000."

The biggest grant amount allowed by the Road Home program is $150,000, so ICF believes it paid some recipients the maximum when they should not have received a penny. If ICF's highest estimate of 5,000 collection cases — overpaid by an average of $35,000 — proves to be true, that means applicants will have to pay back a total of $175 million.

The government giveth….but mainly takethand taketh and takleth away!

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