Be aware of 2 media stories playing into BushInc's ploy to dissolve FEMA.

[blm]

We had a thread a few days ago noting that part of the 2000 Texas GOP platform was to abolish FEMA with private firms stepping in to the void.

There are two "stories" being bandied about on the news that ridicule FEMA in the exact way needed to instill disgust for FEMA in the general public.

One has been out for over a week, about the firefighters who volunteered to rescue services but, were stuck in a hotel attending "sensitivity training" seminars by FEMA.

Too absurd to be actual policy in a crisis of this magnitude - does it sound like something that James Lee Witt would do? Who set up this "sensitivity training" seminars to occur DURING rescue operations policy?

Second is the new story about the convoy of 200 trucks loaded with ice and water sent around the country by FEMA to places not needing it, and finally ending up at a storage warehouse in Memphis...AFTER A WEEK OF DRIVING AIMLESSLY. They say it's because of a "miscommunication" but again, that is too absurd to be believed and - does it sound like anything that would have happened under James Lee Witt?

People...and truckdrivers...are just NOT THAT DUMB to drive around aimlessly for a week when the news is filled with certain knowledge of the areas where the trucks needed to be. Especially TWO HUNDRED OF THEM.

Here's the latest story you'll be hearing about, and, no doubt about it, the blame fingers will be pointing directly at the "bureaucracy" of FEMA.



http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBPENXFJDE.html

FEMA Ice Truck Convoy Sent on Twisting, Weeklong Route to Hurricane Storage Depot

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - About 200 tractor-trailer trucks with ice and water for victims of Hurricane Katrina took a convoluted, weeklong trip to a storage depot in Memphis, partly because of what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers called "miscommunication."

The drivers were sent to cities that didn't end up needing water or ice and were final directed to Memphis, said Corps spokesman Bob Anderson.

"They're in the right place now," Anderson said Monday. He said the problem trip may have resulted from "miscommunication, a breakdown in communication between FEMA and the Corps."

The trucks are leased by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, while the Corps is responsible for getting them to where they are needed in Mississippi and Louisiana. Memphis has a Corps storage facility where relief supplies are held before being shipped south.
>>>>

[wakeme2008]

1. Add to those the stories about Blackwater security being

used in NOLA. Tells a lot about the GOP goals.

[blm]

8. You'll be paying monthly fees to Blackwater just as you pay to Verizon.

.

[HeeBGBz]

2. I just registered w/Fema and was subliminally (or not) insulted

Registering online you have to type in a "randomly" generated code word in wavy/distorted format into a box to continue the registration process. (Like you do with Ticketmaster or other businesses that want to prevent automated computer input)

The word that showed up that I had to punch into the box was LOOTER.

How rude and insulting and insensitive is that?

[blm]

4. I think BushInc isn't even hiding it - they WANT the public disgusted with

FEMA.

The cries to dismantle FEMA will come from an outraged public - just as they intended.

[SmokingJacket]

3. I agree the delayed response was totally deliberate, aimed at

convincing people that private corporations/charities should be responsibile for disaster relief.

They want to dismantle every government program that might possibly help people.

[blm]

7. And PROFIT from any program that is meant to help people.

.

[Emit]

18. I took a break from MSM for a couple of days

And was shocked when I flipped on the various news reports yesterday---usual Bush & Co. shills attacking FEMA with exaggerated outright indignation (i.e., Scarborough) and then a whole bunch of sugar-coated news stories about local Christian charities outdoing the government.

I agree with you and a few of the other posters recognizing this chess game they are playing--and as another DUer said on a similar thread, "They're playing for keeps..." This was their plan--delay until we are screaming and begging for either more military and government or more charities and big businesses. It's a catch 22 now.

They are definitely using this to their advantage. The more we blame FEMA and the feds, the more ammunition they have to erode the government and dismantle states and civil rights.

I don't like the direction this is heading.

edit: spelling

[blm]

23. Good assessment. When you step back and see the big picture it sure gets

a whole lot uglier.

[KittyWampus]

5. BLM, maybe it's time for Dems to contrast Clinton's response to Mississipi

flood during his tenure.

[blm]

6. Yep - what was Clinton/Witt policy in a crisis contrasted with Bush/Brown.

No way did Witt put in policy to subject firefighters and volunteers to "sensitivity training" for a few days BEFORE they are allowed into rescue operations.


NO FUCKING WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a gawddam BushInc CHARADE!

[wiggs]

9. Whenever a chunk of money is up for grabs

...you'll see Bush/Cheney fingerprints all over it.

Iraq war...billions laying around for corporations to pick up

Social security...they tried to get mitts on the hundred of billions this would generate

Social security trust....depleted by Bush

Federal surplus....depleted

Katrina....300 billion mentioned (hard to believe) so vultures are lining up

National treasures (forests, mountains, air)...pillaged for corporate profits

[blm]

11. Scary thing is Cheney started with the DOD back in 1991. They have already

made it acceptable practice because they media barely noticed their increasing presence.

The public wouldn't be too happy to know that Halliburton was in charge of the refueling for the USS Cole and it was THEIR routine that allowed the breach, not the Navy's.

The press never even mentioned the connection for voters back in 2000, but, instead, allowed the story to be spun against Clinton/Gore administration while the PRESIDENT of HALLIBURTON got a complete pass.

[Nikki Stone 1]

15. Halliburton's security holes were responsible for the Cole bombing?

Links?

[blm]

16. Their Euro base KBR-KelloggBrownRoot. They handle logistics for military

operations. Refueling is one of the duties. That is a fact.

Although I heard about it at the time, it is a very difficult task to find any press story that points to KBR specifically, although they do mention that the ship was there in Yemen for its usual refueling.

People always assume its part of standard Naval duties, but, it's actually OUTSIDE firms like Halliburton and their sister firm KBR that do these jobs.

[OregonBlue]

10. Reposting to this topic. They'll blame it on FEMA

bureaucracy and try to Privatize it. We need to shut them down now. Contact every media organization you can think of and let them know where the neo-cons are heading with this. Cut them off at the pass. Don't let them build momentum. Get some dems out there now talking about how the repugs are going to attempt to destroy FEMA in order to deflect blame, rather than accepting responsibility for the failure of the administration to hire qualified people.

1) FEMA needs to be moved out of Homeland Security
2) FEMA must be reorganized and staffed with emergency management professionals, not political hacks and party contributors
3) Homeland Security committee also responsible for allowing political appointments that devastated the agency and caused these deaths
4) The more the agency is privatized, the harder it will be to investigate graft and corruption

Letter writing campaign to Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Homeland Security Committee and Governmental Affairs

(R) Collins, ME - Stevens, AK - Voinovich, OH - Coleman, MN - Coburn, OK - Chaffee, RI - Bennett, UT - Domenici, NM - Warner, VA

(D) Lieberman, CT - Levin, MI - Akaka, HI - Carper, DE - Dayton, MN - Lautenberg, NJ - Pryor, AR

[cthrumatrix]

12. obviously there is an agenda --- FEMA is all of a sudden "stupid"?

I don't think so....

This is by design

[blm]

17. Did the FEMA policy/procedure book change from the one Witt used?

That would be an interesting clue.

[DemReadingDU]

13. Thanks for sharing new story

[blm]

14. With the BFEE, it's generally the little peripheral stories that

reveal their actual intentions.

[seemslikeadream]

19. Surely there are parts of FEMA that "they" do not want destroyed?

Who has or will have power over the leftovers?

Homeland Security?

[blm]

22. There won't be any leftovers. FEMA will be history.

.

[bribri16]

20. FEMA is already contracted out to the hilt. Why do you think it takes so

long for them to act? Have to get those work orders, statement-of-work papers done right.

[blm]

21. I'd like to compare Witt's playbook to the ones this crew is using.

I wonder if those books can be accessed by some intrepid reporter.

[blondeatlast]

24. When it comes to the PNAC/Heritage Foundation agendas, there are

no accidents.

These stories absolutely play into the scenarios you mention.

[smurfygirl]

25. very interesting.

I had no idea that KBR refueled the cole.

And there is definately a plan going on here.