Where’s the Outrage?

Isn’t it February? February is a time for snow and snow storms. Blizzards in the northeast and sub-zero temperatures around the Great Lakes are normal for this time of year but instead, we got Spring-like tornadoes that torn through Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia. 50 people have died. Hundreds injured.

The saddest part of all of this is that we get to the see FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) at work, again. I’m not sure I can stomach, Michael Chertoff lying to us again about how they have everything under control.

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From NYT:

President Bush said Wednesday that he had called the governors of the states affected by the storms and pledged assistance from the federal government. “Loss of life, loss of property — prayers can help and so can the government,” Mr. Bush said in brief remarks before a ceremony at the Department of Agriculture in Washington. “I do want the people in those states to know the American people are standing with them.”

Michael Chertoff, the secretary of Homeland Security, said that a regional emergency center in Thomasville, Ga., had been activated and that officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were already active in Tennessee and others were on the way to the region. “We are going to keep watch on this,” Mr. Chertoff said. (more…)

Tags: Bush Administration, FEMA by ecthompson
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From NYT:

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on Thursday urged the Bush administration to speed aid to Hurricane Katrina victims, suggesting the government was not meeting its legal obligations to help the city recover.

At a news briefing, Nagin bemoaned the procedures to get money for housing and to rebuild roads and power systems. ”A bureaucratic maze,” he branded them.

While Congress last year appropriated billions of dollars for Katrina relief, the city has seen a tiny fraction of that amount. more

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My heart goes out to those in New Orleans.  They still need a ton of help.

Tags: FEMA, Katrina by ecthompson
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From the Center for American Progress:

1,833 lives lost. 270,000 homes destroyed. $55 billion in insured damage. Up to $1.4 billion in American tax dollars wasted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Today, the costs of Hurricane Katrina are still staggering. But even more staggering has been the slow pace of recovery on the Gulf Coast. No one was happy with the federal government’s initial response to the hurricane. Eighty percent of the American public think the federal government’s response could have been “much better,” and in September President Bush stated, “This government will learn the lessons of Hurricane Katrina.” But on the eve of Katrina’s one year anniversary, it is clear that the nation is still waiting for the help Bush promised. Yesterday, as part of the White House’s “public relations blitz,” Bush trumpeted in his weekly radio address that the federal government has “committed $110 billion to the recovery effort.” But those billions of dollars have yet “to translate into billions in building.” Perhaps most disappointingly, Bush has forgotten about his promise to the nation to confront poverty “with bold action.” As Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter writes, “The mood in Washington continues to be one of not-so-benign neglect of the problems of the poor.” Lessons haven’t been learned and time has run out for excuses. (The Progress Report has compiled a comprehensive timeline of the past year’s events and American Progress has developed a list of actions America needs to ensure preparedness and recovery capacity for natural disasters.)

more

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Bush has clearly said that he doesn’t care.  When his poll numbers tanked, he tried to pretend that he cared.  Fortunately, America didn’t buy it. 

We have made more progress in Iraq than we have in New Orleans and we haven’t done squat in Iraq.

Tags: Domestic Issues, FEMA, Katrina by ecthompson
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Are we ready?

Tags: FEMA by ecthompson
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Why? Why did President Bush get such high marks on Hurricane Rita? What did he do? He did fly around the country. Is flying around the country all you have to do to impress the American people? I guess appearance is everything.

Tags: Domestic Issues, FEMA, Katrina by ecthompson
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So we thought that the local, state and federal agencies would have learned a few things from Katrina. Well, they did but not enough. A bus carrying elderly out of the Houston caught fire and exploded on the highway killing 20. Gas stations have run out of gas. I-45 has been a parking lot for the last 2 days. From Dallas to Houston to Shreveport - there is no gas, no bottled water, no food staples - This is a HUGE area. Unless you have a chartered flight out of the region by now, you are stuck! Bush is going to Austin today to personally look over the shoulder of Governor Rick Perry (someone known for great hair and not great policy) who was hand picked to be Governor by Bush in 2000.

Tags: FEMA, Katrina by ecthompson
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“Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government and to the extent the federal government didn’t fully do its job right, I take responsibility,” Bush said. What? Is this a new political move? Or a new game To Tell the Truth?

Tags: FEMA, Katrina by ecthompson
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I spent a lot of time in Louisiana. I did my training there and I was a junior faculty member at LSU-Shreveport. I have many friends in the New Orleans area. I pray for them and all of those good people affected by the powerful storm. May God give them strength.

Tags: Domestic Issues, FEMA, Katrina by ecthompson
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