More on the Cali Fire
President Bush was in Southern California yesterday. He smiled for the cameras. He told the press corp that he was on top of the situation. Arnold Schwarzenegger was at his side. Bush’s best line was “We’re not going to forget you in Washington, D.C.” Yeah, right.
It seems that there was a problem in the firefighter response early in this fire. Red tape prevented water dropping copters and large cargo planes from getting off of the ground. Isn’t that Bush’s job to eliminate red tape? Where was Michael Chertoff?
It is funny how the Republicans have no use for government except when it is something that they want. Cut this. Eliminate that. Bushie Dana Rohrabacher is now upset that red tape got in the way of putting this fire out early. It is unclear if the early measures would have prevented what we are seeing today but it would have been nice to have had a robust response before houses had been destroyed.
Nice personal account here. Another blogger, Vanessa, reminds us that it is people who matter.
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From MSNBC:
As wildfires were charging across Southern California, nearly two dozen water-dropping helicopters and two massive cargo planes sat idly by, grounded by government rules and bureaucracy.
How much the aircraft would have helped will never be known, but their inability to provide quick assistance raises troubling questions about California’s preparations for a fire season that was widely expected to be among the worst on record.
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“The weight of bureaucracy kept these planes from flying, not the heavy winds,” Republican U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher told The Associated Press. “When you look at what’s happened, it’s disgusting, inexcusable foot-dragging that’s put tens of thousands of people in danger.” (more…)
