Hundreds Rally for Reconstruction Work ( La...

[wakeme2008]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Katrina-Contract-Rally.html

October 29, 2005
Hundreds Rally for Reconstruction Work
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 4:57 p.m. ET

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Hundreds of people rallied at the state Capitol Saturday, pushing state officials to give more hurricane reconstruction work to Louisiana residents.

''This is just not a New Orleans struggle,'' said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who spoke along with the Rev. Al Sharpton. ''Our nation's character is on trial. This is our nation's challenge.''

The storms left as many as 296,000 Louisiana residents without jobs, costing $300 million in unemployment benefits, state officials say.

Sharpton accused the federal government of awarding bids to politically connected companies at the expense of local contractors. He specifically named Halliburton Co., formerly run by Vice President Dick Cheney, which has a subsidiary doing cleanup work in Mississippi.

Edward D. Hawkins, 55, said he wants to use his fleet of bulldozers and other heavy equipment to help, but can't get a contract

..little more at link...

[ninkasi]

1. Wouldn't you think

that awarding contracts to local companies, and putting residents back to work would be the best, and most efficient thing to do? The sheer, overwhelming greed and incompetence of this administration is unbelievable. Halliburn should be barred from any more government contracts unless there is a fair bidding process, and they are the best available.

After reading about their performance in Iraq, though, I find it impossible to believe that Halliburton is the best firm to handle any reconstruction contracts. Republican greed is never-ending.They are willing to gorge themselves to the point of absurdity, while the country is more and more becoming aware of the gross corruption of this administration.

[rpannier]

2. Ahhhh...but that begs the question. Best fot who?

For Cheney and his...ahem...uhhh...blind trust?

[ninkasi]

3. Whoops! Sorry!

I'm banging my head against a brick wall for stupidity. Of course it doesn't matter whether it's best for the ones harmed by the hurricane and aftermath. I'm so idiotic sometimes...naturally, helping them doesn't add one red cent to Cheney's income, so why bother? Aren't they pathetic, rpannier?

It's funny, but growing up, all the pictures I saw depicting Satan were of fairly think guys with horns, a forked tail, and a pitchfork. The devil these days comes well larded with fat, just like Cheney, Rove, and Falwell. Oh, well, we shouldn't judge evil by mere appearance.

[wakeme2008]

4. But this can hurt the Repug party in La

A lot of local construction workers are Repug voters. And to be broke and see jobs "outsourced" to Friends of Bush, IMHO will cause some to re-think their votes.

[Robert Oak]

6. From the switch to "blue" of Louisiana

in the polls I think they are getting it. Bush corporation
is corrupt as hell and so is congress...

the real problem is getting some representatives up for office
who actually represent the people instead of major corporations and special interests.

[zann725]

5. Either way, the workers' lose. On Jesse Jackson's show on AAR

a couple of weeks ago, he said that the Edcuadorians (or whatever illegals already brought in for the clean-up) were NOT wearing HASMET (protective outfits to protec them from all the toxins they were cleaning up. And as I think I recall hearing, there was NO health care benefits offered to these people? So ala Haliburton's ususal compassion, any clean-up workers there are most likely to fall ill and die from work-related illness.

Though I am DEFINITELY all for displaced locals doing the re-con work, the conditions must be protective of the worker, and health care provided.