Outrage over fraudulent use of FEMA money

Re “Category 4 fraud,” editorial, June 17

Your conclusion that it is wrong to blame victims of Hurricane Katrina for spending Federal Emergency Management Agency money irresponsibly was an embarrassingly stupid pronouncement. That was taxpayer money that hardworking people handed over to the government with the expectation that the money would be spent wisely -- within the perilous boundaries of the meaning of “spent wisely” when speaking of the federal government.

It is absolutely unacceptable that those who committed fraud or spent money on such outrageous things as sex-change operations and vacations to the Dominican Republic are not being prosecuted.

There is something wrong with a government that will jail somebody for cheating on income taxes but winks at such fraud.

TOM HIBBARD

Loma Linda

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Talk about “can’t win for losing.” FEMA cuts red tape to a signature and releases $6 billion in relief in record time and then is taken to task because of fraud committed by the people it was supposed to help.

You point out FEMA could tighten its operation, but you need to recognize that being a victim is not a license to steal.

Is the new political correctness never using the words “blame” and “victim” in the same sentence? If FEMA did the best disbursement on a scale never seen before and the victims cannot be blamed for fraud, whom do we hold responsible for fraud, the money itself?

CHRIS ULLMAN

Manhattan Beach