Running Out The Clock
The Washington Post reports on the Department of Homeland Security’s latest attempt to take no responsibility for anything and to run out the clock: States feel left out of disaster planning
Bruce Baughman, Ashwood’s predecessor as president of the National Emergency Management Association and a 32-year veteran of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said that a draft of the revised plan released to state officials last week marks a step backward because its authors did not set requirements or consult with field operators nationwide who will use it to request federal aid, adjust state and county plans, and train workers.
“Where’s the beef?” asked Baughman, who is Alabama’s emergency management chief. “I don’t have any problems with a framework . . . but it’s not a plan . . . and it’s not national. Who are we fooling here?”
The “framework” won’t be officially released until June of next year, when there will be a public comment period, then review, then re-write, then it’s January of 2009 and someone else’s problem. In the mean time, nothing will change or be done while waiting for the report.
These people have progressed beyond lame duck to dead duck, and just don’t care.
6 comments
In general, I’d rather rant about a political issue than a moral one, but I’m afraid there’s nothing to be done here except point out that this administration’s non-plan for FEMA is a moral outrage. Indeed, they just don’t care, many have died because they just don’t care, and they still just don’t care.
Some things really should be beyond politics; emergency planning is one of them.
I wonder how these people sleep nights. Do they think their own relatives and friends are somehow immune to natural disasters or other catastrophes? Oh, right; I almost forgot… they just don’t care.
They don’t accept responsibility for anything, and their response to negative news is to launch a blamestorming session.
You can’t even say what they do is immoral, because the evidence is they they are all amoral – they didn’t have any morals to begin with.
Talk about disaster planning…we got a brewing disaster here with no planning. We might have to evacuate the City here and no one really knows how to go about doing that.
Have Commander Cookoo Bananas get on the horn and order up a couple of these Russian babies to come over and help us.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db7QPk7GFJM
The Navy has what you need floating around Coronado with helicopters and landing craft already on board, but, based on the response to Katrina, they can’t respond in less than a week, even if they are sitting off the coast, because the Shrubbery has to give permission.
The military has the resources. The military likes “humanitarian” missions. Everyone in the response from the military gets a medal. If they would let the military help, instead of only permitting them to blow things up, many problems would be solved and lives saved.
I like Navy guys. They can fit some big ships off the coast here. They planted the USS Ronald Reagan off the coast for awhile.
Thought I was in Sandy Eggo for a bit watching all the Seabees in their whites run around town.
They would just need some of the landing craft to ferry people down the coast away from the fire. They have a 600-bed hospital on those assault vessels, so evacuating special needs people wouldn’t be a problem.