WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House scolded the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Friday for staging a phony news conference about assistance to victims of wildfires in southern California.
The agency — much maligned for its sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina over two years ago — arranged to have FEMA employees play the part of independent reporters Tuesday and ask questions of Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the agency’s deputy director.
ON DEADLINE: More on the FEMA masquerade
The questions were predictably soft and gratuitous.
“I’m very happy with FEMA’s response,” Johnson said in reply to one query from an agency employee.
Full Story Here:
FEMA workers posed as reporters
I would have gotten up from my death bed to write this, FEMA is a JOKE, a very bad, terribly mismanaged JOKE and we’re paying for it, you’re doing a heck of a job Brownie, words that have become synonymous with You’re fired…
I’m going to cover a few things other than just FEMA in this post but FEMA is directly connected in the entire topic, I am to the point that I have to vent, just a little…
FEMA, and the state of Louisiana showed the nation what incompetence truly looked like when Katrina hit the gulf coast, Bush didn’t rush right down to New Orleans and Mississippi like he did to California this week, federal money has been slow to go to Louisiana to fuel their recovery and everywhere I read I see people making comparisons to New Orleans and the So-Cal fires, well, there is NO comparison other than the fact that they are both natural disasters, right there is where ANY similarity in them ends…
I have seen many comments on the New Orleans Times-Picayune saying that Louisiana will continue to be ignored until they, the state of Louisiana, seat a Republican Governor, I see the same people saying that the reason So-Cal is receiving the massive response to their disaster is because they have a Republican Governor, and the truly terrible part is the ones, and there are MANY, screaming that it’s all about race, New Orleans didn’t get the response they needed because of New Orleans being a majority black city and because California is populated by rich, white Republican voters, and to that I say BULL SHIT!! Yes, there are some rich white folks in California but to the people throwing out the assumptions that this is the reason California is getting a bit more rapid response, I say again, BULL SHIT!!
FEMA messed up in their response to New Orleans but the root cause of that massive failure was the response made by Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, she turned down an initial offer by Pres. Bush for IMMEDIATE federal help in the form of troops and the supplies that they could have almost immediately moved into the New Orleans area, but Blanco turned Bush down in her belief that Louisiana could handle the aftermath of Katrina all on it’s own and in what I saw as an attempt by her to prove that a FEMALE and Democratic Governor could seriously get the job done, and I think that Blanco may have forgotten that 3,500 members of the Louisiana Army National Guard were already under federal orders and in a period of out processing from Kuwait and making their return to Louisiana after having spent a year in Baghdad, and perhaps she didn’t realize that even if the 256/156 BCT had been able to return to Louisiana immediately, they were still under federal orders for a given period of time after their deployment…
Bush made mistakes in Katrina but the 1st responsibility falls on the state itself, NOT to FEMA or the U.S. military, and I know that many believe So-Cal got a much more expedient response, but their Governor was ‘Johnny on the spot’, he was all over this thing and he exhibited great leadership, and yeah, he did make a couple of off hand comments towards Blanco and the Louisiana response to Katrina but he only spoke the truth, Louisiana initially dropped the ball in New Orleans and FEMA quickly followed up with their own fumbling and bumbling, thus, in my mind at least, bringing to light the fact that we are NOT prepared as a nation, if FEMA and the Feds can’t contain a regional issue like Katrina and can’t respond in an honest manner, you know, like NOT hosting and populating their own press conference, how can we possibly hope that they could get this nation under control in the event of a massive attack or nationwide natural disaster and be what they are supposed to be, the one and only, Federal Emergency Management Administration??
We need a hell of a lot more than political spin, we need to lose the comparisons of disasters and we ALL need to work together to make this nation as safe and as prepared as possible, stop the finger pointing, stop the in-fighting, stop the politics and racial slurs, either get with the program and become a part of the solution or keep doing what you are doing and remain a part of the problem…
Demand that Bush remove incompetent managers within his administration, and the very 1st thing that could be done to help resurrect FEMA from it’s own pile ashes would be the immediate firing of Michael Chertoff, he can’t handle disaster, and that’s because he IS a disaster, his organization has NO scruples, as has been glaringly pointed out by this fake press conference, and that little character flaw falls directly on the man in charge of the agency itself, Chertoff, and yes, I know, many are going to say that Bush himself needs to be removed, and I could not agree more, but he could help his own cause by placing people in positions of authority that could actually DO a job the way it needs to be done, and by removing them and placing BETTER people in the position if they don’t, and by appointing capable advisers and then actually listening TO that sage advice…
God Speed California, you WILL recover, but PLEASE, do us all a favor will you?? Cut the damned brush so this crap doesn’t happen again, a snail darter or some desert rodent or some other little furry critter is NOT worth all this BS with the wild fires, it could be avoided by a little bit of land clearing, no point in being a tree hugger if all you’re going to have is a burned out tree to hug…
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Well giddy-up, TexasFred is back and he’s riding a horse whose balls seem to be on fire.
Welcome back my friend, glad you made it.
As far as your post, you did it again, hit it out of the park.
Now throw some water on that horse and get some rest.
Hey Fred,
Glad to see you seem to be feeling better than you were yesterday.
Great post as always my friend.
California won’t cut any brush as that might offend some wacko environmentalist so their fires will continue to occur and people will continue to lose their homes and lives….period!
California is a disaster and always has been and there is nothing that they will do to prevent it…so just let them go down their own devised path and pray for them.
Blanco was a disaster for Louisiana and I am glad that she is gone, the new guy has to prove himself but I personally feel that he will also fall down in the mud when things get bad out there as we feel they might.
‘Nuff said…just my opinions btw…lol
It is mandatory that we cut our brush back and keep trees trimed, if you don’t there are heavy fines and I mean heavy, to say that we don’t is incorrect.
I can’t speak for the Forest Service but if you own property, you keep it clean or else.
The loss of homes had nothing to do with people keeping their brush cleared, nothing. It had to do with embers falling all over from the fires in the sounding hills.
This is just not my opinion, it’s fact.
Ranando, that’s the reason I addressed my last paragraph to California…
Home owners DO keep it cut back, at least from what I saw when I was spending a lot of time out that way, but the damned tree huggers won’t allow the state to clear the brush on public lands if my understanding is correct, and that is the root of the fire problem…
Am I wrong on this?? You Cal guys let me know please…
No Fred, your correct.
That’s why I can’t speak for the Forest Service.
If the Smokey Mountains caught on fire because of a downed power line and homes burn to the ground would it be North Carolina’s fault?
No. it wouldn’t, these fire happen that’s life. If you decide to live in these area, it’s the risk you take, trees and brush burn. To think anyone can keep the Smokey Mountains clean and that they won’t burn is crazy.
If your going to buy property by the ocean, be prepared to get wet. If your going to build a home in or next to a National Forest, be prepared to get burned.
My only first response: the difference is that Louisiana is a LOSER STATE and California actually possesses an infrastructure and a populace worth saving, and does not primarily consist of scum-sucking parasites along with browbeaten races who won’t even stand up for themselves, and who want nothing more than whatever they can acquire for free and with no work involved.
Ever wonder why N.O. isn’t “rebuilt”? WHO would do the work? Certainly NOT its LOSER inhabitants of a certain CHOCOLATE color.
BZ
BZ, as long as the corrupt political machine of Louisiana is in place the feds shouldn’t hand them the billions they want, I have no problem with saying that at all, assholes like Nagin, and Blanco on her way out would steal at least HALF of it, that’s Louisiana, that’s the way it rolls, and Baton Rouge is FULL of sorry, no account, not worth the powder it would take to blow em to hell professional crooks in suits…
And if you’ve never had the opportunity to actually WORK New Orleans, man, you have NEVER seen corruption anywhere that is so open, so blatant, so corrupt…
I seriously doubt that Chicago during Prohibition was any worse truth be known…
And again I say, CONGRATS to Arnie and the crew in Cali, you guys were right on top of the whole thing and ya know, some places are worth rebuilding, some aren’t…
And New Orleans needs to think about this, nothing screams “We’re worth it, rebuild US” like having so many of your crooked and/or ineffectual officials under federal investigation and oh yeah, that pesky little murder a day, 3 or 4 a day in some cases, that just begs to be rebuilt…
BZ, I don’t know if you know it or not but I’m a Louisiana native, it’s just that ‘some’ of us had the good sense to get the hell AWAY from that floating turd…
Here’s a headline: “FEMA Assists in Recovery of Our Favorite Blogger”! Glad you are doing better and this seemed to be just what the doctor ordered!
Mark said just yesterday that it would do California some good to invest in a few Bush Hogs…..
It seems every time Pres. Bush goes home to work the farm, such as cutting brush, the MSM makes fun of him. However, his house hasn’t burned because he doesn’t know how to use a Bush Hog……
Hope those in California recover from this — and remember - Clear cutting is a good thing
Fred: yes, I recall your indicating you came from Louisiana. And the deal in Fornicalia is just like Ranando wrote: I too have had my little “notices” from the Forest Service and I’ve complied. That’s me, and my neighbors. But the Forest Service ITSELF is the biggest violator of its own rules, but not precisely by choice. The Enviros have ruled this state for years and allowed literally years and years and years of underbrush, fallen trees and scrub to exist on the ground — plus dead trees uncut. You cannot cut a tree, you cannot fell a dead tree, you cannot pull out downed trees, you cannot clear. All that tinder, downed and laying in place over the years, makes the forest that much more susceptible to fire. It is MADDENING because it COULD be a win/win situation: persons could enter the forest, remove fallen trees and applicable scrub for personal fuel, and also fell the dead trees and/or help clear portions of the forest.
But NOOOOO. . .
BZ
Well said, Fred. Glad you’re on the mend !!!
Excellent post Fred, as usual. One thing I have to say in defense of all government officials and agencies during Katrina is that up until that time, we’ve never had a disaster on that magnatude as a nation. Until it happens, nobody really knows what to do or how to do it. They had plans and had disaster simulations but until the real thing happens, simulations are nothing but a waste of time because you simulate the simulation in many instances.
I’m visiting family in Louisiana right now and from the folks I’ve talked with they’re hopefull that their new governor will get some things straightened out. But, they aren’t holding out for it because too many folks believe that’s (corruption) the way it’s suppose to be
I do feel for those on the left coast who got burnt out..and I felt for those on the Gulf coast who lost there homes to the hurricanes. However, I can generate no sympathy for those who sit around and cry waiting for the government to rebuild their subsidized homes for them. In Se E Texas and SW La the survivors of hurricane Rita went beck to work as soon as the flood water went down and rebuilt..store owners put up tents and eating places served food on picnic tables and it will not be long before the area is as good as it ever was..New Orleans however may never recover..it is just an example of the class of people..
The wash that New Orleans did do SOME good though. It dispersed the dim-a-crit voters out of the state and there was just not enough votes there for the dim-a-crit machine to buy the governor’s office once again..the state new has a GOP leader and we will just have to wait and see if he is truely a republican or just another gotdam RINO