A source inside FEMA told me recently that, as of a couple of days ago, the agency had granted 1,758 funeral benefits to families whose pre-disaster address was in Jefferson Parrish. These are confirmed deaths with confirmed identification, but the implication may not be what it seems. So far this number is not in the public domain, and I can't verify it by any independent sources, but I believe it. The thing is, any large population of people will have a certain number of deaths over any 2 week period, so it's not a given that all, or even most, of these deaths occured during the hurricane or flood. In fact, since identification is a fairly rigorous process it's probably accurate to infer that most of these deaths occured under non-disaster conditions, either after the event or before it, and people are simply applying for the funeral benefit because they're without funds. The critical issue isn't the number, but whether these deaths were a direct consequence of the storm, whether the storm was a secondary factor, or whether they would have occured storm or not. And that's simply unknown to us at this time.
But be advised that if numbers like these are leaked to MSM it's very likely that certain people will interpret them to mean that the death toll from Katrina is much higher than the current number of confirmed deaths (579 in the state of Louisiana according to FOX just a few moments ago).
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I suspect your source is much like my sources. I have worked with FEMA on six occasions and I am a gov employee (USACE no less). My "sources" (from the bottom moving up) are about as dependable as a bunch of guys in a bar after work on a Friday. It's human nature - everyone wants to be seen as on the "inside" and "knowledgable" especially those who work in the "system". In the Army we called it "The Rumor Mill" - give your friend the same weight, no offense.
Posted by: hondo at September 17, 2005 01:49 PM (4Gtyc)
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Find one photo of a bloated white body and let us all know the link..
Klanrooster is still missing.
Posted by: Downing Street Memo at September 18, 2005 12:12 AM (VhNDM)
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My friend assures me that FEMA wouldn't give funeral benefits unless the death was attributable to Katrina, but he didn't seem to know the difference between "primary" and "secondary" cause either, and agreed that some of the deaths might have been in shelters after the storm had passed. I don't know how you could verify that some of these people wouldn't have died anyway. On the other hand authorities who are actually counting bodies have the death toll much lower, and they haven't even identified most of these people. How FEMA colud have identified 1,758 victims of Katrina is beyond me.
But may main point is that if someone actually publishes numbers like this, beware of the false inference that these were Katrina-caused deaths.
Posted by: Demosophist at September 18, 2005 12:23 AM (buXMS)
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The Left needs dead bodies for their purposes and nothing under 1,000 will do. They'll count floating coffins, dogs and gators if they have to.
Posted by: Carlos at September 18, 2005 12:24 AM (8e/V4)
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I worked for FEMA from 1996 to 2002. I was a supervisor case reviewer by the time I left. Apps have to submit documentation to support their claims, but fraud attempts are common. In Florida last year the number of death benefit claims approved and paid by FEMA ended up higher by several percentage points over what the counties ended up with as their official storm related death tolls. This is actually the "normal" result. In baseball, the tie goes to the runner, in FEMA the benefit of the doubt - and the benefit - goes to the applicant.
Posted by: Hucbald at September 18, 2005 12:46 AM (C9fqq)
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BLOATWATER and Hellibacon, perfect together!!
Posted by: Downing Street Memo at September 18, 2005 07:02 AM (VhNDM)
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Given the propensity among blacks' for scamming the government at every chance, I'm guessing that about 50% or better of death claims are fraudulent on some level.
I can't wait to hear the PC bleating on this one, but you all know I'm right.
Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at September 20, 2005 09:38 PM (0yYS2)
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