where was expedia.com when fema needed it?....

ok, so this was posted on wonkette today.....

Lest you think that Tom DeLay is the only sinkhole of cash operating on the Potomac, let us briefly redirect your attention to the chronic condition of inept money bloat afflicting our oold friends at FEMA. The WaPo's Jonathan Weisman reports that the crony holding pen that gave us Michael "I'm No Superhero; I'm Not Even a Competent Horse Inspector or Lawyer" Brown has floated a grotesque sweetheart deal with Carnival Cruise Lines, to the tune of $236 million. What FEMA gets for all that scratch is three cruise ships, totalling 10,000 berths, for the next six months. Well, they're at least providing desperately needed emergency shelter for flood evacuees, right? Well, you see, the thing is, those ships . . . . now bob more than half empty in the Mississippi River and Mobile Bay. The six-month contract — staunchly defended by Carnival but castigated by politicians from both parties — has come to exemplify the cost of haste that followed Katrina's strike and FEMA's lack of preparation.

To critics, the price is exorbitant. If the ships were at capacity, with 7,116 evacuees, for six months, the price per evacuee would total $1,275 a week, according to calculations by aides to Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). A seven-day western Caribbean cruise out of Galveston can be had for $599 a person — and that would include entertainment and the cost of actually making the ship move.

Yeah, but $599 gets you who? The Ozark Mountain Daredevils? Tiffany? Evacuees on this special cruise package get the unsurpassed entertainment of knowing they're center stage in the slow yet steady implosion of Bush-era Republicanism. Priceless. --