Politicians, FEMA blame each other for relief missteps

[girl gone mad]

Source: Houston Chronicle

It didn't take long for the finger-pointing to begin.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency came under fire Sunday as emergency workers were left undernourished and dozens of trucks of water and food had yet to be set up at distribution centers around Houston and surrounding communities.

And no sooner had the agency — widely condemned for its glacial response to suffering after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 — drawn sharp criticism as its leaders and spokesmen began to say it was someone else's fault.

Earlier in the day, a FEMA spokesman said delays in setting up staging points to hand out needed provisions had been caused by blocked roads.

By the evening, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said it was the fault of state officials who handed his department the "unexpected challenge" of having to prepare distribution points in addition to delivering supplies.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6001713.html

[Bluebear]

1. I blame the Democrat governor and Senators from Texas.

Oh, wait..

[Aviation Pro]

2. The fuckwits still don't know how to plan....

...God how I hate this third tier administration.

[BearSquirrel2]

7. They don't care ...

You forget this is an entrepreneurial government like the old Soviet Union. Everyone there is trying to figure out how to make a money out of the process as opposed to actually helping people. This is why nothing gets accomplished.

If you want to make it run, you would bring back all the Clinton people who CARE ABOUT PEOPLE and put them in charge. They know how to run disaster relief.

On the side from myself, I think we need really aggressive programs for taking care of the families of civil defense personnel. If we take care of evacuating their families in a professional and assured way, they can stay in place and do their jobs.

[thecrow]

3. This shouldn't even be a story in America

What? This is Murka now?
Oh....
Sorry I got confused.

Clinton would NEVER let this happen this way.
He'd be down there on Day One with his sleeves rolled up, feeding people.

[intheflow]

4. The real irony is

that this is one of a few times a year Bush isn't on vacation in Texas. Now he just can't stay in DC fast enough. :puke:

[snot]

5. Remember, one of their goals is to destroy confidence in the ability of gummint to do anything --

as usual, they've been supremely successful in accomplishing their goals -- and not ours.

[qanda]

6. Too bad they couldn't have had another Republican Convention

So the phonies could pretend to care about the plight of people in the path of a storm.

[MadMaddie]

8. Let's see how many closed contracts the FEMA hands out to

companies outside the states that were hit. Meanwhile leaving TX small companies in a lurch.

[Igel]

9. If that's the worst snafu, great.

I save my perfectionism for myself.

[Retrograde]

10. Unexpected challenge?

What have they been doing for the last 3 years? What are they going to do in a real surprise emergency, such as an earthquake or terrorist attack? You don't usually see those coming a couple of days off like, to give a far-fetched example, a hurricane in a hurricane-prone area during hurricane season? :sarcasm:

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. You tube links here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Goez84v363Y