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Daily Kos has a list of FEMA headlines that defy belief:
FEMA won’t accept Amtrak’s help in evacuations
FEMA turns away experienced firefighters
FEMA turns back Wal-Mart supply trucks
FEMA prevents Coast Guard from delivering diesel fuel
FEMA won’t let Red Cross deliver food
FEMA bars morticians from entering New Orleans
…
FEMA blocks 500-boat citizen flotilla from delivering aid
FEMA fails to utilize Navy ship with 600-bed hospital on board
FEMA to Chicago: Send just one truck
FEMA turns away generators
FEMA: “First Responders Urged Not To Respond”
Each of the headlines is a link to the full story.
11:23:56 PM #
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Via Dori Smith: former first lady Barbara Bush says things are working out “very well” for New Orleans evacuees:
In a segment at the top of [an NPR radio program] on the surge of evacuees to the Texas city, Barbara Bush said: “Almost everyone I’ve talked to says we’re going to move to Houston.”
Then she added: “What I’m hearing which is sort of scary is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality.
“And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this — this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them.”
Oh, what fun! It’s like a great big camp-out!
10:44:55 PM #
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Readers at Ric Ford’s Macintouch web site report that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requires a current version of Microsoft Windows software if you want to apply for disaster assistance online. Reader Gary Mullins:
My 90-year old mother sat out Katrina in her brother’s home next door in Diamondhead, MS, about eight miles from the Mississippi coast where the hurricane’s eye hit. They survived without injury but with massive destruction to their homes, and my mother has lost most of her possesions. I brought her to my home in California yesterday and this morning went to the FEMA website to register to start the assistance process.
To my dismay, our Federal emergency agency requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, and only IE 6, to use the website for disaster assistance.
Reader Todd Del Priore:
I tried the latest Safari, IE [for Macintosh] and Firefox, none work. Heaven help all the Mac users in the South... assuming they have power.
Macintosh users aren’t the only ones left out. Users of Linux, older versions of Windows, and other alternatives to Microsoft’s current operating system offerings are left in the lurch, too. IE 6 runs only on recent versions of Microsoft Windows.
FEMA’s web site includes a list of charities for those making donations to help the victims of Katrina. Sploid.com notes:
FEMA is directing Katrina donations to none other than the Rev. Pat Robertson …
FEMA has released to the media and on its Web site a list of suggested charities to help the storm’s hundreds of thousands of victims. The Red Cross is first on the list.
The Rev. Pat Robertson’s “Operation Blessing” is next on the list.
When I checked, Robertson’s operation had been moved down to third on the list.
10:23:48 PM #
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The Bush Administration’s “culture of life” talk seems kind of hollow right now. On HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, television actor Bradley Whitford said he had received $250,000 worth of federal tax cuts since 9/11. Discussing the tragedy in New Orleans, he said:
They’ve revealed themselves as inept in preparation, at a time when our country needs protection most. And with the pictures we’re seeing, they’ve revealed themselves as — I think we see that the Republican agenda leaves a lot of people behind. You mentioned that these people are a bunch of Jesus freaks. Where is the Christianity?
…
If it’s not Christianity, what do these people believe in? Their religion, their religion, is supply-side economics. That is the religion. And if you think about it — with George Bush, before 9/11: tax cuts. After 9/11, is it national security, terrorism? No. Tax cuts — for me. And I guarantee you, the estate tax is coming up. Will any sacrifice be made for the infrastructure? Will any sacrifice be made for our soldiers over there? No! More tax cuts. That is his Jesus.
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman says the victims in New Orleans were killed by contempt:
[T]he federal government’s lethal ineptitude wasn’t just a consequence of Mr. Bush’s personal inadequacy; it was a consequence of ideological hostility to the very idea of using government to serve the public good. For 25 years the right has been denigrating the public sector, telling us that government is always the problem, not the solution. Why should we be surprised that when we needed a government solution, it wasn’t forthcoming?
…
Which brings us to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In my last column, I asked whether the Bush administration had destroyed FEMA’s effectiveness. Now we know the answer.
…
[T]he undermining of FEMA began as soon as President Bush took office. Instead of choosing a professional with expertise in responses to disaster to head the agency, Mr. Bush appointed Joseph Allbaugh, a close political confidant. Mr. Allbaugh quickly began trying to scale back some of FEMA’s preparedness programs.
You might have expected the administration to reconsider its hostility to emergency preparedness after 9/11…
But the downgrading of FEMA continued, with the appointment of Michael Brown as Mr. Allbaugh’s successor.
Mr. Brown had no obvious qualifications, other than having been Mr. Allbaugh’s college roommate. But Mr. Brown was made deputy director of FEMA; The Boston Herald reports that he was forced out of his previous job, overseeing horse shows. And when Mr. Allbaugh left, Mr. Brown became the agency’s director. The raw cronyism of that appointment showed the contempt the administration felt for the agency; one can only imagine the effects on staff morale.
That contempt, as I’ve said, reflects a general hostility to the role of government as a force for good. And Americans living along the Gulf Coast have now reaped the consequences of that hostility.
The administration has always tried to treat 9/11 purely as a lesson about good versus evil. But disasters must be coped with, even if they aren’t caused by evildoers. Now we have another deadly lesson in why we need an effective government, and why dedicated public servants deserve our respect. Will we listen?
2:42:38 AM #
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