Why are People Defending FEMA??

Does anyone here understand what has happend? 90,000 sq miles of destruction and 1.5 million people displaced! My god people nothing like this has ever happened here before and people are playing the blame game before all the facts are even in. This is a disaster of Biblical proportions and all I see is political bickering about who is to blame. My God
no human or agency is capable of handling such a large tragedy and making it run smooth as silk. I am sure when all the smoke clears that FEMA will take a lot of heat. I am sure that the Mayor and Govenor will probably have to answer for their mistakes also. But playing Devils Advocate for a moment, step back and take a look at the whole picture.
No one was prepared for what happened, No One period! About the only people that come out of this whole debacle unscathed are the folks at the National Weather Service. Damn they tried to warn everyone and no one listened. So please get a grip of yourselves, drop the conspiracy crap, the Bush-bashing rhetoric and the race/hate mongering. Put down the keyboard and go outside for some air, geez!

Originally posted by Yorga
Does anyone here understand what has happend? 90,000 sq miles of destruction and 1.5 million people displaced! My god people nothing like this has ever happened here before and people are playing the blame game before all the facts are even in. This is a disaster of Biblical proportions and all I see is political bickering about who is to blame. My God

Yorga

You make some decent points and most importantly your post reflects how we all feel. This is an out of control disaster of epic proportions and our way of bickering and arguing the topic to death is because we are watching it all unfold before our eyes and really can't believe the level of incompetence we see around us.

To make my point clear - I do believe FEMA is to share in a big chunk of the blame, but they are not alone. A failure of this magnitude can only be the combined incompetence and failure to properly communicate between many organisations.

I am just tired of hearing the usual argument of rushing behind one's own team (so to speak) and burying the truth about what is happening. No one wants this to happen again - it might just happen in their own states next time.

As far laying the blame when this is all over - I'm afraid like many that I don't hold much faith in that. Heads will certainly roll, but it will be the wrong heads and the usual schmucks will continue running things as they usually do until the next thing comes along to surprise everyone all over again.




[edit on 9-9-2005 by nikelbee]

The truth is that OUR GOVERNMENT knew that New Orleans and the whole gulf coast
was one of the top 3 risks in disaster preparation.

The reason so many people are upset is because for all intents and purposes
it appears that FEMA's only plan was to "wing it."

This also makes everyone wonder what would happen in any other major urban area
following another major disaster.

Sure FEMA is there NOW, but only because of public outrage.

The fact that life saving help was turned away for any reason, is simply inexcusable.

This was not a Republican disaster or a Democratic disaster,

It was an AMERICAN disaster and OUR AMERICAN GOVERNMENT FAILED!

Well I guess we aren't the only ones who is blaming FEMA. Michael Brown has just been asked to step down from his duties. By the way, did anyone see this?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Top U.S. disaster official Michael Brown, under fire over the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, cited prior emergency-management experience in an official biography but his duties were "more like an intern," Time magazine reported.

Brown's biography on the Federal Emergency Management Agency Web site says he had once served as an "assistant city manager with emergency services oversight," and a White House news release in 2001 said Brown had worked for the city of Edmond, Oklahoma in the 1970s "overseeing the emergency-services division."

Intern like duties???

I'm reposting a link to this pdf about FEMA, because I think it's very important for people to understand what the powers granted to FEMA encompass.

FEMA - The Secret Government

By Harry V. Martin with research assistance from David Caul

Here are just a few Executive Orders associated with FEMA that would suspend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. These Executive Orders have been on record for nearly 30 years and could be enacted by the stroke of a Presidential pen:


EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990 allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995 allows the government to seize and control the communication media.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997 allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998 allows the government to take over all food resources and farms.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000 allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001 allows the government to take over all health, education and welfare functions.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002 designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003 allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005 allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11051 specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11310 grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11049 assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued over a fifteen year period.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11921 allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money in U.S. financial institution in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months.

www.sonic.net...

Okay, Okay! Now I am seeing the light! New info coming out about our friends at FEMA is not looking to good. Presidents have always filled government jobs with thier buds but I think this one is gonna bite Dubya
where the sun doesn't shine! Watching and listening with great interest, this is gonna get ugly.

No kidding. This step down is a good thing. We will see what happens to Brown and FEMA later. That man shouldn't even be allowed to manage a crew at Mc Donalds.

Anyone have a good recipe for crow?

The man wasn't even an Assistant City Manager, he was an Assistant to the City Manager. For god sakes he was nothing but a freaking gopher.
Man, I need to get one of those FIMA jobs.

Originally posted by Yorga
Anyone have a good recipe for crow?

I hear it's really best sautéed in lemon butter, but grilled with a hint of chipotle is also excellent.

Good on you for even thinking about eating it, though. Most won't even consider that they may have been mistaken. You have my respect for that.

And isn't just Brown. There is a very good thread here by Kenshiro2012. I'm quoting from one of the articles:

Five of eight top Federal Emergency Management Agency officials came to their posts with virtually no experience in handling disasters and now lead an agency whose ranks of seasoned crisis managers have thinned dramatically since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
FEMA's top three leaders -- Director Michael D. Brown, Chief of Staff Patrick J. Rhode and Deputy Chief of Staff Brooks D. Altshuler -- arrived with ties to President Bush's 2000 campaign or to the White House advance operation, according to the agency. Two other senior operational jobs are filled by a former Republican lieutenant governor of Nebraska and a U.S. Chamber of Commerce official who was once a political operative.

msnbc.msn.com...

"You want fries with that? "