Remedial Math, Perhaps?

More hurricane-related collusion between D.C. and Florida care of FEMA (emphasis mine):

Florida officially recorded 123 fatalities from last year's hurricanes, but the federal government has paid funeral expenses for at least 315 deaths, including those of a man who shot himself and a stroke victim hospitalized more than a week before the last storm hit.

In one case, a Federal Emergency Management Agency worker tried unsuccessfully to persuade a coroner to count among the hurricane casualties a "morbidly obese" heart patient who purportedly was "scared to death."

"If you were to call around to all the medical examiner offices, people would say, `No way did we have as many deaths as FEMA is saying,'" said Dr. Stephen Nelson, head of Florida's Medical Examiners Commission. "It's just an incredible number -- a difference of 192. This is the Free Funeral Payment Act."

The discrepancy is even greater because the families of some victims counted as storm casualties by the medical examiner said they received no help from FEMA, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel found in its continuing investigation of hurricane aid.

FEMA officials declined requests for an interview, instead releasing a statement: "FEMA is in Florida to help the victims of the worst series of hurricane disasters in over 100 years, including helping those families who have suffered the loss of loved
ones to this disaster."

Where have I heard before the claim that supporting victims of a terrible tragedy drapes one in a cloak of immunity from criticism?


Oh. Right.

In Palm Beach County, where FEMA paid 39 funeral claims from hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, the medical examiner recorded a total of eight storm-related deaths, the biggest gap in the state.

"I don't know where [FEMA] came up with those numbers," said Dr. Michael Bell, the county's medical examiner. Applicants are "probably inflating it so they get more money."

In Miami-Dade County, where FEMA's payment for a funeral last fall fueled suspicions of fraud, the agency has since approved four more funerals from Frances. The Labor Day weekend storm made landfall 100 miles to the north, and the county medical examiner recorded no Frances-related deaths.

The entire story is worth your time to read; it’s quite interesting to see exactly where the money went…and where it didn’t.

Regular readers will also recall that I posted just a couple of weeks ago on another story (also in the Sun-Sentinel) tracing FEMA’s role in funneling federal funds to Florida just before the election, using hurricane relief as the cover.

I’m sure, as with the former story, it’s just a coincidence that a federal agency exploited a natural disaster just before the election to give undeserved payments to the constituents of a hotly contested swing state which just happens to be governed by the president’s brother.