Chicken or Egg

Which came first; the New York Times puff piece that portrayed Donna Fenton in glowing terms while slamming the federal response to the disaster or the realization that she was a complete and utter fraud who should never have received federal hurricane Katrina disaster aid in the first place?

The New York Times did a horrible job in researching the story, but it was no worse than the vetting by the federal agencies that approved her aid.

What a mess.

"Yesterday, the New York police arrested Ms. Fenton, charging her with several counts of welfare fraud and grand larceny. Prosecutors in Brooklyn say she was not a Katrina victim, never lived in Biloxi and had improperly received thousands of dollars in government aid. Ms. Fenton has pleaded not guilty.

"For its profile, The Times did not conduct adequate interviews or public record checks to verify Ms. Fenton's account, including her claim that she had lived in Biloxi. Such checks would have uncovered a fraud conviction and raised serious questions about the truthfulness of her account."

Amazing fact checking the NYT has. And it would appear that FEMA employs the same level of fact checking as well.

Lovely.