Brown approved over $31 million to buy votes in Florida

We all heard about the millions of fraudulent FEMA payouts to residents of Miami, Florida after the 2004 hurricane season. But the press, for the most part, was curiously silent about a possible motive.

There's some better than circumstantial evidence that ex-FEMA Chief Brown paid out millions in false claims to help Bush win Florida votes in the 2004 election.

So, still wondering how a resume-doctoring, political hack with zero experience managed to head the government's disaster relief and recovery agency?

Start here, with Jason Leopold's summation, then go here to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's original piece of investigative journalism (from last March).

Then you decide.

Think about it. Has the American public's gargantuan cynicism about the effectiveness of our government bureaucracy made it easier than sin to use its service components as political tools?

But if we are that easily bought and sold, then we deserve the quality of the merchandise.