And we wonder why we're running a huge defict?

The Daily Advertiser, the local paper in Lafayette, Louisiana, is running a story entitled Supplies to Reach Storm's Victims. Basically, FEMA "lost" $85 million in supplies, then gave them away as surplus. It appears that out local senator was outraged that these supplies were diverted away from those that they were intended for, and got the recipients to return the supplies, which are now going to be distributed to storm victims. (And were trucked back to Louisiana, wasting more gas and money).

The supplies in question are described as including "baby bottles, cookware and hygiene kits." These are supplies that you need the week after a storm. Katrina was in August 2005 and Rita was September of the same year. I think we're a little beyond hygiene kits now.

What I really can't understand, if you assume that the government had to get involved in the first place, is why they are handing them out now. Hurricane season is here; there will be another one somewhere in this country or another where people can actually use this stuff. But, knowing the feds, there is no way that they can simply divert supplies from where they are surplus to where they are needed.