FEMA kills $17 million morgue after just 10 weeks

It's so nice to see that our federal government is spending our hard-earned tax dollars wisely.

The latest example of government financial ineptitude comes to light in hurricane-ravaged Louisiana, where FEMA's state-of-the-art, $17 million morgue is being shut down after a mere ten weeks in operation.

The morgue, which can decontaminate and examine 150 bodies a day and has living space for nearly 500 workers, is closing because the number of bodies coming in has dwindled to about one a week, said Chuck Smith, a FEMA official.

Smith said Tuesday the morgue had been developed when officials believed there would be 5,000 deaths. Instead, there have been about 1,300 in Louisiana so far and it was apparent within a few weeks of the hurricane that the number of deaths would be 1,000 to 2,000.

"It is the Taj Mahal of forensic science; it is a beautiful place," said Frank Minyard, the New Orleans coroner. "But by the time we moved there we were finished with all the autopsies."

The sheer magnitude of wasted spending by this administration's incompetent cronies is almost beyond belief. If just a fraction of that money had gone toward saving lives and providing necessary food, shelter and care to those in need during Hurricane Katrina, much of the post-hurricane spending would have been unnecessary.

No one seemed to know what would happen to the 70,000-square-foot, or 6,500-square-meter, building that housed the morgue, built from the ground up on private land belonging to Bear Industries, a construction supply company.

In addition to the morgue, a warehouse, and rows of never-used cubicles, it included a cafeteria and fitness center.

Sounds like quite the facility. Who knew dead people needed to exercise?!