More hurricane profiteering

Disgusting (but maybe not too late for you to get on the gravy train).

Lobbies Line Up For Relief Riches
Groups Portray Projects as Storm Aid
Washington Post
September 28, 2005

With Congress dangling as much as $200 billion in hurricane-related aid, lobbyists for oil companies, airlines, manufacturers and others are clamoring to get their share.

[...]

The troubled airline industry has been particularly active on the hurricane front. Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. are trying to include relief from their pension obligations in hurricane legislation this year. The firms have been pressing for the change since the spring, before the hurricane season, but are telling lawmakers that the fuel price hikes in the wake of Katrina have made the aid more necessary.

[...]

Insurers have been using Katrina as an argument for approving their long-held top priority, an extension of the Terrorism Reinsurance Act (TRIA), which provides for the government to pay a portion of the damage caused by a foreign terrorist attack over certain thresholds. To illustrate the tie between the hurricane and the legislative effort, Carl M. Parks, senior vice president of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, has coined the term "KA-TRIA."

[...]

A lot of lobbyists' pleas dressed in hurricane clothing are for things that Congress has rejected for years. John M. Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, has called for the opening of oil and gas drilling on the ocean's Outer Continental Shelf as a way to increase the availability of energy. Why now? Because Katrina is a reminder of how fragile the country's energy infrastructure is, he said.

You too can invent your own hurricane excuse. Just fill in the blanks. "Hurricane Katrina is an example of _______________, so we must _______________."

Hurricane Katrina is an example of how fragile life is, so we must live every moment to the fullest by legalizing drugs and prostitution. Or maybe Hurricane Katrina is an example of the wrath of an angry God, so we must appease Him with federally-subsidized Old Testament-style lamb sacrifices. Or, Hurricane Katrina is an example of how people without cars can't evacuate natural disasters, so we must lower safety standards to reduce auto prices, and give new tax subsidies to Detroit. Hurricane Katrina is an example of how fragile the country's voodoo economy is, so we need special tax breaks for voodoo practioners. Eye of newt half off!