More Fun With Contrasts

On the one hand....

Republicans Urge Suspension of Davis-Bacon Wage Act for Katrina Recovery

Members of the House Republican Study Committee (RSC) have called for President Bush to temporarily suspend the Davis-Bacon Act in order to expedite the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast....

GOP Representatives Tom Feeney (FL), Marilyn Musgrave (CO) and Jeff Flake (AZ) sent a letter to President Bush, co-signed by 32 House conservatives, calling for the suspension of Davis-Bacon. The letter reads in part:

"With the recent devastation of New Orleans and Mississippi caused by Hurricane Katrina, there is no doubt that the United States is in a state of national emergency ...
"As you know, the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 mandates that a prevailing wage be paid on all federally financed or assisted construction. Additionally, the Act requires that wage information be provided to contractors ten days before bidding on projects begins.

"The Government Accountability Office has reported that there is often a delay of two weeks between the time when Department of Labor issues rates and local officials receive them. Meanwhile, construction projects cannot begin until the new rates are received.

"Furthermore, Davis-Bacon regulations effectively discriminate against contractor employment of non-union and lower-skilled workers and can even raise total construction costs by up to 38%.

"It is evident that decisive government action is needed now to protect the public interest during the extended rebuilding period ahead … "Faced with the massive rebuilding challenges ahead, we respectfully urge you to make a presidential proclamation to suspend Davis-Bacon until our country is once again whole."

This would hardly be without precedent, as the President's own dad suspended Davis-Bacon after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 in order to expedite reconstruction.

On the other hand, the Democrats are exploiting Katrina for partisan fundraising purposes (HT: NRO):

A new Democratic effort to whip up indignation about the Bush Administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina also tried to raise money for Democratic candidates.

Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat and the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, issued an appeal Thursday urging people to sign an online petition to fire the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency over his handling of the Katrina response.

After an inquiry from the Associated Press, the DSCC quickly pulled down the page and said they would donate to charity any money raised by the anti-FEMA petition.

When recipients clicked on a link to the petition, the top center of the screen _ above the call to "Fire the FEMA director" _ had asked for a donation to the DSCC.

Assholes.

Oh, yes, and big, fat, stupid, lazy, lying, self-satisfied lunatic Michael Moore is going to do another Fahrenheit 911-like bullshitomentary on Hurricane Katrina and Bush's "willful destruction of New Orleans".

Pity he wasn't invited along on Sean Penn's boat. Wouldla finished the job the leak started.

At the very least, his open mouth would have helped suck the water out of New Orleans a lot faster.