Carrion Men

... this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.
Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene 1

One of the seemingly inexplicable obscenities of the New Orleans catastrophe has been the bodies lying dead on the street day after day. Now, thanks to Josh Marshall, we have a plausible and horrifying explanation. Although there were volunteer morticians from all over the country willing to go to NO, it seems that it took a while for FEMA to get in place a contract for
Service Corporation International (SCI), another Houston-based corporation, which bills itself as the "dominant leader in the North American death care industry."
Unsurprisingly, this Houston based company has longstanding political ties to Bush, and to former FEMA director and Bush chief of staff Joe Allbaugh (Michael Brown's college roomate, and the guy who hired him). SCI was also the central subject of the so-called funeralgate scandal during Bush's time as Texas Governor. Another featured player in that scam was the Texas attorney general (and now US Senator) John Cornyn. Details from Salon at the link.

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