FEMA is not a massive agency and being under the DHS umbrella allows for more flexibilty. As soon as the disaster hit the call came into other DHS agencies for personel. This allows FEMA to draw on the expertise and man power from other agencies within the DHS umbrella. The response of volunteers was overwhelming and there was no need to twist anyones arms.
The Red Cross was told by local officials not to bring in trucks of water and aid before the levees broke. The use of patronage in this area does seem to be a problem on both sides ie Golan Cipel in NJ . Security is an area that requires leadership and vision and is no place for partisan hacks and patronage. If anything good will come out of this maybe more attention will be focused on the importance of the job itself.
The reality of FEMA is that it does not and should not maintain an army of personel.
What we should learn and focus on is that all DHS employees should get one week of FEMA training for emergencies. The next time there is a disaster the move will be seamless. This is a real lesson that should be applied from this disaster.
However the blaming of Bush in the face of overwhelming mismanagement and malfeasance in NO spanning decades is laughable. Where were the LA senators when Kennedy, Kerry and Byrd were handing out pork on public works projects ? The basic answer points to decades of mismanagement on the local level. The problems of NO were well known before the hurricane. Now the left wants to make arguments ranging from lies to the bizzare in there never ending anti Bush obsession.
1 The Hurricane was caused by failure to sign Kyoto. Wow talk about long range forcasting. The local weatherman can't predict tommorow's weather but the left can go back years. I propose an equally valid theory that the build up of greenhouse gasses caused by Tofu consumption of the far left caused the hurricane.
2 The money for fixing the levees was diverted to the Iraq war. No it was most likely spent in MA on the infamous Big Dig or on one of Senator KKK Byrds endless parade of pork.
3 There is a racial angle to this tragedy. No it is proof positive of the disasters caused by one party politics. NO desperately needed a Rudy Guiliani or a Bloomburg to
seriously reform a chronicaly corrupt and mismanaged city. The problem was mismanagement on a local level spanning decades not a week in 2005.
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b says "There's no leadership anymore! Where are our leaders when we need them?"
Brutus - Stoop, Romans, stoop, And let us bathe our hands in Caesar's blood Up to the elbows, and besmear our swords: Then walk we forth, even to the market-place, And, waving our red weapons o'er our heads, Let's all cry 'Peace, freedom and liberty!'
et tu Brute?
-FJ
Beak,
Just to let you know...My blog article for 9/11 links to one of your pieces.
The poem posted is a student's take on 9/11. You might want to have a look.
I'll be thinking of you on Sunday. I know that the date brings back horrible memories for you, an eyewitness.
mr. ducky,
You should know better than to believe what you read in the Pinko Post and Boston Glob. James Lee Witt was a "disaster expert"??? He was a Clinton sychophant from Little Rock who had exactly 4 years of Emergency Planning experience...derived from when then Governor Clinton appointed him to his AK position in '88.... having "been" head of Head Start Programs in Arkansas previously.
JLW Bio
Yeah, he had four years more experience than the current head of FEMA after being appointed, but please... what disaster do Arkansas face OTHER than democratic governors?
-FJ
James Lee Witt...
Since Gov. Blank-oh! has appointed him to start cleaning up for Katrina (back on the public dole for what fee???) this is setting up his new political career. In taking the job, he follows in the same desirable political tradition as "Herbert Hoover". I can hardly wait till he's president!
-FJ
How much experience did he have before his "Clinton" appointment to Head any disaster relief efforts? And how hard is it for a "general contractor" (by trade) to clear dirt and build new houses... especially with a "blank check" from Uncle?
The so-called "debacle" lies in what you do with the "residents" between the time the basement fills with water, and you unveil the new "club-basement".
In the case of Katrina, the resident's ignored their contractor's advice to move out for a while. Is that the contractor's fault? Or is stupidity simply a Constitutional "Right". Oh that's right, the "victims" weren't stupid. They have been held down and oppressed for so long by the system, that they cannot be held responsible. And if THAT is true, perhaps you should condemn the "system" that made them so "dependent" upon it (and it AIN'T the capitalist one).
You pity the stupid. If you had any real "wisdom", you'd try and help make them smart. But you can't reach "beyond" pity. And so I "pity" you! I pity the fool!(Mr. T). But not even my "pity" reaches ground. It flies right by you. Cause you already "know". It's got no place to land.
-FJ
mr. ducky,
Last time I checked, America was a free country. People have the "right" to be stupid. People are still kings in their castles. Hermes' priapus will remain at the entrance of their gates until some young "Alcibiades" like yourself knocks it off.
-FJ
I didn't think that libertarians were as able to march as well as I can. My synchronized goose-step can appear to others quite formidable at times. I can't tell you how many times I've been accused of being a fascist!
Now, if I could only remember the words to the Internationale. Guess I'll have to Google for it.
-FJ
I knew I could find them Internationale
Perhaps we could sing it together. But on second thought, I never was much of a singer. You'd better try a solo. Wouldn't want to be accused of being somebodies "peer" standing before THIS crowd. ;-)
-FJ
FJ,
Always remember, if Rush or Hannity says something it automatically becomes untouchable. From that moment forward it will discredit us as posters.
I know this puts an enormous strain on us as we must check the "Right Wing" archive, but if we attempt to discredit a leftist ideologue and inadvertently use something that either of them commented on, our point becomes invalid.
We may, however, use the National Enquirer. Just don't source it. It's as fully reliable as the Post, the Globe, or the Times.
B
The move was a human sacrafice amidst a media feeding frenzy. FEMA did zero wrong and it takes time to organize a relief convoy. The convoy might ot had been necessary had NO let the Red Cross in before the levees broke. NO was mismanaged and this disaster starts with local incompetence. This is the latest of the lefts idiocies. Abu Gharib was overblown and even more absurd was a picture of a Killer in his BVDs. There is no scandal here and FEMA did the best they could under difficult circumstanceds.
Less than 24 hours and they started to attack. Almost like they had been waiting for this, no?
The usual suspects show up and commence to blathering, "Its all Bush's Fault!". Its truly amazing. An assortment of nitwits and morons with one thing on their tinny tiny minds, discredit the President.
They still show their ignorance! They don't know the difference between FEMA and the DHS, they don't even know that the "Louisiana DHS" is a separate state run body answerable to the governor of Louisiana and not the Federal government.
I don't believe that the case could be made that FEMA could have did 'anything' in the light of the blatant obstructionism of the local authorities.
I wish their was some way to see how many of these attack dogs secretly hope for a high body count.
I was just listening to Chris Matthews, bemoaning that the president (paraphrase) "just wasn't taking the strong leadership position that he did after 9/11". Meaning that he wasn't giving inspirational speeches and prowling around New Orleans.
Now what do you want to bet that he would say that, the president was using human suffering for political gain and getting in the way of rescue efforts, if the president put himself front and center. A slur for all occasions!
Warren,
The parallels to the Great Flood of '27 sppoked 'em. The last thing they wanted was 1,000,000 poor black folks being grateful to the "current" government admin for all the help they're getting. They set the alarm to "shrill" so they can be credited for "whipping" a "dis-interested" and "elitist" admin into action. That kinda stuff works on the "masses", but it won't fly around here. In other words, it was ALL politics, no SUBSTANCE.
-FJ
For everyone who thinks FEMA did such a great job, why did Buh demote him? People don't get demoted after doing a "heck of a job." Also, anyone who thinks the criticism just came from the left, shows how out of touch with reality you truly are.
-B (from another computer)
FJ,
I would agree, I hadn't thought about the political aftermath of the 27 flood but since the advent of the 24 hour 365 day election cycle, it has been all attack, all of the time.
Ad nauseam, ad hoc!
B,
What was that demotion?
Did they remove him from his position?
Its obvious that Bush was backfilling but the so-called demotion didn't happen. Of course, that doesn't keep you from re-defining what a demotion is.
In the Army; two blacks accused me of racism. The charge was baseless, they were mad at me because as their platoon Sergeant, I ordered them to clean the barracks. Every other mothers son, (blacks, Mexicans, whites, Puerto Ricans), was cleaning the barracks for an inspection. These two clowns were sitting outside under a tree polishing their boots.
My First Sergeant, (a black man), called me to his office. He said, "I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm about to do. I'm going to move you to a different platoon. You and Sergeant Harper are going to swap platoons in order to defuse this situation. I know the charge is a crock but this is the best way to end this thing right now".
He was called back to Washington in order to defuse this situation right now.
So while you are crowing like some deranged rooster about how anyone that disagrees with you is delusional or out of touch with reality, remember that I regard you as a pissed reactionary that has caused a bunch of trouble by making groundless accusations.
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