Guess who just got a job as a FEMA consultant?

[rah]

I don't have a problem with this.
While he has some blame, there was enough to go around.
He drew the short straw and was the designated scapegoat. I think it's slightly unfair that he was the only one punished. No one else lost their job over this. (yet)
So a few extra bucks consulting seems kind of fair to me.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Darkstar
Of course, we will blame everything on Bush and his admin. And not on the fact that it wasn't until Wednesday that the LA Governor even asked for Federal help, and before she did that, no federal help could be dispatched. Let's overlook the fact that we have documented proof that Bush and the Mayor of NO was on her behind trying to get her to request (authorize) federal help the thursday before the storm... nope. It's all Bush's fault.

You are completely wrong. Blanco asked for Federal Aid the day before the storm and Bush signed off declaring it a disaster zone the day of the storm. The problem is nothing happened for four days after that.

Get your facts straight.

[germanos]

Originally posted by rah
I don't have a problem with this.
While he has some blame, there was enough to go around.
He drew the short straw and was the designated scapegoat. I think it's slightly unfair that he was the only one punished. No one else lost their job over this. (yet)
So a few extra bucks consulting seems kind of fair to me.

Is this how welfare works in the US of A?

[rah]

There are a lot of less deserving people getting free money from the government here.

[Dinner]

http://www.thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline

There is a timeline of what happened with Katrina.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by rah
I don't have a problem with this.
While he has some blame, there was enough to go around.
He drew the short straw and was the designated scapegoat. I think it's slightly unfair that he was the only one punished. No one else lost their job over this. (yet)
So a few extra bucks consulting seems kind of fair to me.

So in other words, as long as there are other people who are equally irresponsible and/or incompetent, we can let this other, one person stay in this position just because he is not the only person to blame.

What would our country be like if the rest of our society dysfunctioned the way the Bush administration and government agencies do? For example, at an auto shop, the manager would refuse to fire an bad employee there, because there are other bad employees there anyway!

[rah]

I'm not saying he shouldn't have been fired.
I'm saying that getting a few bucks on the side consulting over a short period doesn't bother me, since a few other people should have taken equal heat.
And his input will have some value into the investigation so it's not like he's taking free money.

[Darkstar]

So, we aren't to believe what the Mayor and others stated on camera during the events? Blanko did not request Federal troops. She requested more National Guard be dispatched to LA, but only under her perview/command. Not the same thing as asking for the feds to come in and maintain order. Fox and CNN blasted that all over the news down here in the SE, with her on tape whining about the fact that the Feddies wouldn't give her Federal troops to be under her command, so she was not going to sign off on having them come in at all.

Time for the media to break out the videos and interviews from the Mayor, and Big B and her own personel again from that week. For instance, there is the tape of the Gov of LA admitting she turned down extra troops and federal aid, of not allowing any relief charities or agencies to pre-prosition, despite public claims that she's "asking for everything" the day before. That she thought that LA could handle it without significant outside help, and now she needs to find a scapegoat.

The fact is that there were plenty of local, state, and federal govermnent agencies that successfully handled Katrina and Rita. That includes FEMA (at least, outside NO). Notice who didn't. Notice where they didn't. Notice what they actually said during the time, *on tape*. Do you think that everyone drew a big fat red circle around NO and said, "we can ignore this place because they've so often practiced and planned for this"? Or do you think that the chain of government failed, from the bottom up? That local, state, and federal didn't even follow their own agreed to plans for NO? You know if the chain is mostly rotten, nothing is going to get done correctly.

Let's ignore all the hurricanes and other disasters that have ever struck this nation, where it almost always takes just at 4 days to get the Feddies in from the time the state governor says "Ok. We need you. It's your game now. Let's coordinate through these offices." Let's ignore that NO own plans call for the Feds to show up 3 to 4 days after a levee break and the whole city is flooded. If that's what they expected, should we expect better out of the Bush Administration? Should Clinton had pointed out the danger to Bush about NO's flooding, and that he'd need to just rush right in, despite what his staff is going to advise (due to legal red tape)? That Bush would need the 81 Airborne standing by at all times whenever there is a hurricane in the Gulf so that they could drop the 81st into NO to establish order within 24 hours, and sieze the SuperDome?

Declaring a state of emergency does not allow the Feddies to just move in federal troops however they choose. It does let the Federal machinery to get a lot of their emergency processes started, such as the paperwork to pay out insurance claims and emergency money and the training to get firefighters and police and electrical workers and rescue teams and all the other personal to get their mandatory training on sexual harassment descrimination sensitivity training, and other required trainings so that they can be eventually dispatched to the area. This isn't a matter of hiding behind red tape. It's a matter of how our government operates to stay (mostly) legal.

Remember, the Mayor of NO actually invited the Feds to send in troops, on broadcast TV, and complained a day later that his state Governor still hadn't agreed to give the Feddies jurisdiction to let the Guard come in!

The first 3 days, it's your local government that responds to whatever disaster has transpired. It takes the Feddies a long time to get their boots on the ground. On average, the Feddies will show up now just under 4 days. Sometimes, it takes longer. 5 days is slow, but that is the estimate for when you have a complete loss of roads and transport infrastructure. Remind me, Big O. How long did it take for the Guard and the Feds to show up in significant numbers?

So, let's review: people are mad that the government performed to its normal specs in NO (and performed better elsewhere). Are you sure you want to blame Bush, his administration, and all of the federal government for getting their job done? Most of the time when the government does its job, people want to call that just dumb luck.

[Darkstar]

Originally posted by MrFun
So in other words, as long as there are other people who are equally irresponsible and/or incompetent, we can let this other, one person stay in this position just because he is not the only person to blame.

What would our country be like if the rest of our society dysfunctioned the way the Bush administration and government agencies do? For example, at an auto shop, the manager would refuse to fire an bad employee there, because there are other bad employees there anyway!

Actually, that is the way the rest of our society works. Check out the corporate world. That's very standard. Run an agency or corporation into the ground, leave, and then get hired back for much, much more. I'll accept this is stupid, but it's common practice in business, government, and politics. The bigger you fail, the bigger an expert you become. Stupid but true.

[Tingkai]

Mr. Jefferson said Governor Blanco had asked President Bush for a federal disaster declaration three days before the storm made landfall, and Mr. Bush declared a disaster two days before the hurricane hit. "So the local folks, I think, made an adequate request for support," Mr. Jefferson said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/national/nationalspecial/27cnd-response.html?hp&ex=1127880000&en=71ada2ab2ae33ea1&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Q Classic]

Originally posted by Darkstar


Actually, that is the way the rest of our society works. Check out the corporate world. That's very standard. Run an agency or corporation into the ground, leave, and then get hired back for much, much more. I'll accept this is stupid, but it's common practice in business, government, and politics. The bigger you fail, the bigger an expert you become. Stupid but true.

For example, look at Darl McBride and SCO!

[Tingkai]

Brown is blaming the Democrats and the media for the problems while denying any blame. Looks like Rove did a good coaching job.

[Darkstar]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
For example, look at Darl McBride and SCO!

[Q Classic]

Originally posted by Tingkai
Brown is blaming the Democrats and the media for the problems while denying any blame. Looks like Rove did a good coaching job.

What is the Democratic and media fixation on the the humanitarian aspect? We've got a real disaster here! A president with sliding approval numbers!

[Darkstar]

Strangely, the Democrats are to blame. Considering, you know, that they've been running LA for the last, what, 150 years unchallenged. Not to mention having been paid to upgrade the levies to withstand Category 5 hurricanes, but siphoning off the money to use for other projects (thus assuring that they will get more money in the future). You know, basic politics of redirecting money because there is no need to waste that money in such a fashion when there's better vote buying projects to be done first.

Media? Well, yes, if the media is reporting things like riots, murders, hi-jacking of equipment and what not, FEMA is not going to send in their people. Otherwise, it would be legally liable for any harm that came from that. Just the American legal system at work. Too bad that at least 99% of all the reports of those felonious acts turned out to be completely untrue, and were based purely on unsubstatiated rumors (as we are learning now).

Of course, without the media, no one would know where anyone was, so go figure. A mixed blessing.

I don't think the feddies are innocent. I'm sure they kicked the pooch with great gusto, as they are the government and that's what it does best. However, their is little doubt that there is bigger villiany resides below the federal response. If the Mayor's office had just committed to bussing his non-mobile constituency with the same gusto he used to bus his voting base to the polls for his last election, the only people that would have been left in NO are those holdouts that didn't want to leave their possessions or pets behind.

Again, declaring a federal disaster doesn't get you National Guard under the command of the feds, maintaining the peace. Nor does it get any other federal troops. It starts the machinary of paying out insurance, getting people ready to be re-verified with their legally required federal trainings so that they can be dispatched, coordinating where to send people, etc etc etc. The federal response is more geared to supporting the initial clean up and rebuilding, rather then large scale rescue, providing immediate health care, or military policing. Examine any large scale flooding, and see what the federal government does to respond there. Go ahead. There's plenty of examples where the Feddies had 4 days forewarning, and even with good co-ordination at all levels (local, state, and federal), it was a total Mongolian Fluster Cuck.