Guess who just got a job as a FEMA consultant?

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Darkstar
The docs split their decisions on if she was brain dead, a feeling but unaware living form, or if she was in some low level form of dreaming. Whether they were brought in by the husband or the parents and the nosy people form outside. Whether they were paid or doing it free.

All the doctors who really treated her said she was in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery. Her brain scans showed nothing above minimal functions. The autopsy showed her brain had been a shriveled husk and she was certainly blind.

The family got a physician from Europe with dubious qualifications and a track record of making outlandish, unverified claims to assert this wasn't so. Oh, and the righteous Dr. Frist proclaimed that she looked a-ok to him, based on watching a video.

I don't see how that is a "split." As the court noted, the medical expert consensus was that Schiavo was a vegetable well past the point of no return.

[Darkstar]

Not that I know of, Oerdin. Have I drank too much red cool-aid and didn't realize it? I try to keep it purple (a bit of red, a bit of blue). It's more fun that way.

The Army Core of Engineers put in a cost for how much it would take to upgrade the levees after Camille. The cost and projects they put in was for upgrading it to a Category 5 standard. That was approved by Congress, and then blocked by a lawsuit. Is this the one you think I lied on? Was their Category 5 standards only Category 4 standards now?

Congress has since then tried to fund levee improvements for NO. But those have all ended up being stalled or redirected by all levels of government (Congress itself, the State of LA, and the City of NO).

I'm fine with an independant investigation. As long as it doesn't put any of the people involved in all these poor decisions on the actual independant inquiry.

The Administration? Are you referring to the Clinton Administration, which slashed some NO levee funding? Or a prior administration? As I said, its been attempted, and stopped, repeatily.

What precisely do you think is FEMA's job, and how long should it take for FEMA to get adequately started on it? I'm curious. I haven't heard much from either the Right or Left as to what it's performance should be. Considering another hurricane is bound to tear apart my aunt's house in the next few years (Charlie totalled her last one), and some friends of mine have had the misfortune of being transferred down to Mobile and that place is bound to get smacked significantly again, what should they expect from FEMA? I can tell you that FEMA was much faster responding to the flooding in NO then it did in parts of Florida following the double hit it last took. That's straight up.

I'll be extremely surprised if Blanco did everything necessary. But I base my opinion on her and the Mayor's actual statements.

It will be interesting to see what turns up over this whole thing in the next few years. I expect there's a lot more key players then the three Bs and the Mayor.

[Drake Tungsten]

In that thread, Drake kept repeating and repeating how there was definite proof that she was alive all the time, the democrats killed her and how it was all a scheme of her evil, greedy millionare husband.

I didn't say any of that. The only thing I even came close to was the last bit, but I never stated it as fact. I simply said that the husband had ulterior motives and I personally didn't trust him based on the existence of those motives and his past behavior.

for amply demonstrating the behavior you claim to abhor, though.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
Oh, and the righteous Dr. Frist proclaimed that she looked a-ok to him, based on watching a video.

It was even an edited video cut down to five minutes. The whole thing was a farce.

[Boris Godunov]

I believe VJ confused Drake with Ned.

[Darkstar]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
All the doctors who really treated her said she was in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery. Her brain scans showed nothing above minimal functions. The autopsy showed her brain had been a shriveled husk and she was certainly blind.

I don't see how that is a "split." As the court noted, the medical expert consensus was that Schiavo was a vegetable well past the point of no return.

AIR, the debate between the doctors wasn't over whether she was in a persistant vegatative state. The split was what being in a vegatative state actually meant for Terry. Whether it was possible for Terry's brain, in its damaged state, to have any awareness function, or was it only capable of driving her base life functions.

All the other "debates" of that case that I can recall were not medical debates. Humanitarian, religious, political, right to life/choose, and all the others.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Darkstar
FEMA's job is not the occupation of territory. It's not search and rescue.

So why is that in NYC after September 11th, FEMA virtually commandeered the city's rescue efforts and took over the task of dispatching rescue crews to Ground Zero?

Why were they preventing volunteer search and rescue folks from entering NO, if it wasn't their domain?

Does FEMA even know what its jurisdiction was? Apparently not. But their "Blueprint for Action" says some interesting things:

The "general principles" of NSD 47 stipulate that: "plans and procedures should be designed to retain maximum flexibility for the President and other senior officials in the implementation of emergency action _both above and below the threshold of declared national emergencies and wars_. Plans should avoid ridged 'either/or' choices that limit presidential options."

If the U.S. Constitution or federal and state laws seem to get in the way of dealing with a "national emergency," NSDD 47 calls for "preparedness measures" that identify "legal constraints" which need to be removed so as not to impede response to a national emergency.

Bringing in the Marines

If the FEMA apparatus does not feel that it can cope with an emergency solely employing civilian personnel agencies, and domestic law enforcement, it can "call in the Marines." Department of Defense Directive 3025.1, titled "Use of Military Resources During Peacetime National Emergencies within the United States, it's Territories, and Possessions" establishes Department of Defense policies and furnishes guidance for DOD support to civil authorities under peacetime civil emergency conditions."

If there is a direct threat to law and order, the governor of a state can request assistance from the President, who instructs the Attorney General to permit military personnel to augment or replace local law enforcement or the national guard. The action is authorized through department of defense directive 3025.12, titled "Employment of Military Resources in the event of Civil Disturbances." For example, a few years ago this directive was activated in preparation for riots in an Atlanta prison.

Advanced intelligence assessed there would be riots, which led to the DOD "pre-positioning military resources" in preparation for an assault on the prison, according to a Pentagon spokesman. The situation was defused and the "DOD components" were not deployed.

This reinforces the point I posted earlier, that the Federal government--FEMA, DHS, DoD, or otherwise--is ulitmately responsible for extreme catastrophes, and the nature of such disasters give them broad powers to step in already, according to the NRP.