FEMA to the rescue? Or the end of Southern California?

So no that FEMA is in total control of the wildfire situation in sountern California, what does everyone think? I of course really hope they can come to the rescue, but I have little faith in FEMA since their "bed pooping" with the whole Katrina situation... what do you all think?

 

This is not a lie, but apparently Schwarzenegger is looking into using Blackwater for civil emergencies.

Every day, we become more like a police state.

 

<foreigner>
Can you explain me what's wrong with FEMA?
</foreigner>

 

The problem with FEMA is that the state of Lousiana did not handle the Katrina disaster like they should have...then when FEMA got there, there was no organization, and no plan of action. Everything then became a problem of the federal govt. When instead it is a problem of the local govt. I applaud So. Cal. for evacuating the people that live there and trying to fix the problem before getting FEMA involved. Wish New Orleans had done the same.

 

I was going to start a thread asking if this fire was racist like the floods or not.

Also, I am sure Bush did something to cause this.

Why hasn't FEMA put the fire out yet? They are letting it burn for political reasons and racism, I am sure of it. Darn racists disasters and BUSH.


/sarcasm

I wonder what will be said this time?

 

i am sure it feels like that to you. with all the things that have gone wrong in the past few years and the free fall of support foryou know who

 

I personally voted for Bush, but only support about half the things he does. He is pretty liberal or "moderate" on some issues and big government.

BUT, what is funny to watch is BDS showing itself through things like Katrina. "oh its Bush's fault the money given to the state were misspent" "it's Bush that made the water rise" "Bush the racist killed the people who wouldn't leave" "Bush kept the city from getting the buses on the road"

When you stack how many things are blamed on Bush but are not in his control and should not be it is hilarious. That is why I figure someone will blame Bush for the fires too.

 

While it would have been nice if local and state governments in N.O. and Louisiana had better prepared, FEMA exists exactly for that type of disaster. In the end the main fault lies with the group who is publicly funded for no reason other then to help the American public avert and cope with unexpected disasters.

 

FEMA is a great example of why Central Economic planning fails.

If the government did not tax for FEMA and numerous other bloated and ineffective bureaucracies, the state would have been better funded either privately or publicly to handle the disaster.

Apparently DHS paid Blackwater $950 per day, per man. And Blackwater dispatched themselves, without a contract in place, then billed retroactively. All they did was cruise around with automatic weapons and perform security, not aid. In fact, Blackwater beat FEMA to N.O.

Let's not forget when they handed out $2,000 to people, and ended up handing it out to people who did not even live in N.O. Or trailergate when all of those trailers got bought but never used.

It's not Bush's fault per se that FEMA failed, he merely inherited a flawed system. The failure was to mobilize every possible resource to deal with a domestic disaster, and to start kicking ass when FEMA was falling down on the job.

How we can send 150,000+ troops to Iraq, and hire 180,000+ contractors there, and not put that kind of resources towards a domestic disaster is beyond me.

And then when someone like Ron Paul talks about having the troops, the national guard and the border guards at home people say he is putting Americans at risk. It's enough to make my head explode.

 

All great points I'm just as flabbergasted at keeping Americans safe from an unseen few across an ocean while people in the "homeland" itself are left to die from the weather. 150,000 troops could have cleared N.O. in a day. 150,000 troops could extinguish every fire burning in SoCal TODAY.

 

150,000 residents could have as well. Of course, it's always "someone's" fault. The smart mind never thinks that in this world, "shit happens," and that fires have been destroying earth since the beginning of time.

Doesn't take any skill to sit and arm chair quarterback. Meanwhile, men and women are laying their lives down to do the best they can with an enormous natural disaster beyond the scale that any of us can sit and imagine.

Liberals are even trying to equate the fire to Iraq. Barbara Boxer turned it political today, and I'm sure some other flaming liberals will do the same.

 

It really goes to the subject of responsibility. If the government wants to collect taxes, and administer the infrastructure, then they are responsible for disaster relief and management.

It's ludicrous to argue for the civilians to handle the disaster. They do not have the financing, the equipment, training or leadership structure of the military and national guard.

These domestic failures just highlight the absurdity of the situation overseas.

 

yes it does...gee, a class 5 hurricane is coming straight for us...run, or stay?? I think I will stay, then blame the whole thing on the govt, mainly bush. Yep, responsibility 101.

 

But that huricane was racist, they had to stay and fight it!

 

oh, so thats what was going on....

 

That is all fine and dandy... but you need to think of the people who have no vehicle to get out of town, have no money to get a bus or plane out of town, have no family or friends out of town to stay with, have no money to get a hotel room out of town... these are the people who need the help. If some well off person with two vehicles and a savings account to handle getting out of town and getting a hotel decides to stay that is one thing, and really we can not feel bad for them... but for those who can not afford to do so, the government has to step up and provide assistance to these people. The government has no quams collecting taxes from them to fund their protection from boogymen over seas, yet totally fails to provide much needed assistance right there at home.

 

Big difference is being seen already in California. First, people are leaving their homes, next they are using places to live away from home, even when they bought nothing. Now the next thing is the biggest part of all - you see people from all over the US went to help after Katrina, but southern Californians are already their helping each other, even before other can get there.

Such a big difference in thinking. One state you have people shooting each other, robbing, etc... the other state you have people helping each other and this is a place that you would probably find some of the greediest and most selfish people.

DrMike, did you know buses were free of charge IF they were to be taking people out, but the buses that did go out, hardly anyone even got on? The local government was even told to get the buses out to pick up people.

 

Yep, It was all Bush's fault....





http://www.educationreport.org/pubs/mer/article.aspx?ID=7890

 

Hey, Bush ran a for job that entails being in charge of the government, everyone in the government works under him, just like in a company and their CEO... if a company screws up big time, whether the CEO was directly involved or not, the CEO is expected to take responsibility for not properly managing things. Same thing with Bush... of course it is not his direct fault for not doing the right thing, but it is his direct fault for not having someone in the position that could directly handle the situation.

I bet you would have a totally different attitude if you were one of the ones stranded in NO not knowing how to get help and if help even existed.

 

Since when did the president tell governors and mayors what to do?

incorrect, that would be the people that live in Louisiana and are registered voters...looks like the have corrected the problem in case of future events.

I would have started walking, but hey, if a class 5 hurricane is coming, why not stay around for the ride???

Lets look at the wildfires happening...people are leaving. Fema has things under control, Arnie did a good job of declaring it a disaster zone quickly. It seems to me that Blanco and the NO govt only wanted to save their own skin.