Blog-IT-o ergo sum

	2/11/2006

FEMA spends US taxpayer dollars to promote Nationwide Insurance Co. in Greensboro...and beyond.

A picture named FEMAflood.jpg I've conditioned myself not to take immediate action on government warnings so this mailer from FEMA sat on my kitchen table for almost two weeks before I took the time to investigage its contents.

Let's first dispense with the straighforward misuses of my Federal tax dollars:

1) A quick and easy cross-check to a satellite or topographical data base would confirm that any resident something over 50 feet above the nearest flood plain (and with half a brain) is not going to consider flood insurance for their home.

2) My wife who uses her maiden name and does live at the same address did not need her own personal copy of this FEMA mailer.

3) This mailer contained a large custom-sized, full-color bleeding edge 6 panel fold out insert in addition to the primary insert. No expense was spared in the design and production costs of this unsolicted material.

4) This is the second mailer FEMA has sent me on this topic in less than a year.

A picture named FEMAfloodad.jpg

Now the ultimate outrage. FEMA spends all these tax dollars to arrive at at a final punchline: Contact one of these two [Nationwide] Insurance salesmen in your area today!

You can bet I will be sending this to my Congressman to complain over this gross misuse of my tax dollars by a profligate federal government that claims there is no spending left to cut in Washington.

If we weren't being governed by crooks, what should have happened here is that instead of using my taxdollars to conduct an advertising campaign for a private insurance company, Nationwide (and any others) should have paid a licensing royalty to the Federal Government for the use of the FEMA logo on their marketing literature. This should have been a net gain to the US Treasury not a net loss! (Fascism is a word that comes to mind.)

I won't hold my breath, but I have also sent a copy of this complaint to the one agent's e-mail address printed above for his comments.

Here is my suggested wording for others who may wish to do likewise:

"If I confirm that Nationwide has participated in robbing me first in order to solicit my business, I can commit to you that that I will never voluntarily give Nationwide a single dollar more of my hard earned money."

*The fine print on the mailer notes that the advertised National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is manged by FEMA/DHS. It then notes that, "All claims and expenses are funded by insurance premiums, not tax dollars." This certainly is not a definitive statement as to who paid for the mailer which only contains a FEMA return address.

5:42:01 PM

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The long reach of N&R blogs...and our surveilence society

A libertarian friend of mine in Michigan was surfing the web today and stumbled across last summer's post on the Chalkboard blog at the N&R. The post was dicussing the issue of more extensive background checks considered for Guilford County teachers.

Yikes!

COMMENTS:

"Didn't see anything about DNA samples? No teacher should object to fingerprinting if they have nothing to hide. I have seen my bank fingerprint people who cash a check and it is not from their bank..."

"I'm a teacher and I have no problem with being fingerprinted or having a thorough background check completed."

4:28:48 PM

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