Okla. Emergency Director Frustrated With FEMA Wildfire Response

[struggle4progress]

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A state official expressed frustration with the lack of response from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide aid for statewide wildfires that have scorched more than 363,000 acres ...

Ashwood, a veteran of disasters, spearheaded the state's response and recovery efforts to the May 3, 1999, tornadoes, 2001 and 2002 ice storms and the Interstate 40 bridge collapse.

"It hasn't taken this long," Ashwood said of previous disaster declarations. "I wish I could have a valid answer for you" ...

FEMA officials did not respond to calls Friday seeking comment on the emergency declaration.

http://www.channeloklahoma.com/news/5932946/detail.html

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Well, FEMA sucked at hurricanes; why wouldn't it suck at widlfires?

Maybe they should hire Brownie's new disaster relief consulting firm.

[Frances]

2. I always said that the red states needed Democrats

in office much more than the blue states. When are these people going to learn that the Repubs are just manipulating them?

[OKNancy]

3. Oklahoma has a Democratic governor

a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate.
Power is vested in the states on emergencies such as this.

I don't really understand this statement "red states need Democrats in office more than blue states"
Are we too stupid or what? I don't get it.

[pitohui]

5. and now you know why they're delaying on the fed declaration

it seems to be open war on democrats even in time of emergency, the goal of course is to make the democratic leadership look shitty by keeping them from the federal resources

how sad and evil these bushbots be

[hippywife]

7. Apparently we are.

Many of the Dems we do have in office here qualify as DINO's in a huge way.
After going thru the resolutions process and all the way to the state convention, I'm convinced that a good number, in order to keep their jobs, are scared to support the Dem platform or are Republicans running as Dems because that is who, historically, this state elects locally.

[Frances]

8. FEMA stands for FEDERAL

Emergency. Under Clinton FEMA was operated by professionals on a non-partisan basis.

We all know that FEMA is used by the Bushes for partisan reasons. For example, after the Florida hurricane just before the 2004 election, FEMA money poured into Florida. Even people unhurt by the hurricane received money.

But we all saw what happened to New Orleans, a Democratic city during Katrina. Now New Orleans is being reconstructed so that there is no place for the poor who used to live there and voted Democratic. Without these voters, Louisiana will probably become a red state (vote for Repub presidential candidates.)

I called Oklahoma a red state because the state voted for Bush. Right now Bush doesn't need their votes and so he's hanging them out to dry.

The reason that Oklahoma and Alabama and North Dakota (all red states since they voted for Bush) should vote Dem and not Repub is that the Dems support social security and medicare. These states have lots of rural voters who need social security and medicare much more than they need anti-gay-marriage laws. The Repubs have convinced these people otherwise however.

[AndyTiedye]

4. Stiill Doing a Heck of a Job

[uppityperson]

6. Nothing different than in the past except FEMA is more gutted

"I think what we are asking for is what is allowed under federal government programs," said Michelann Ooten, Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman. "It is nothing that we haven't asked for in the past. And yet this situation is far more remarkable."