On Keith O's show tonight ambulances leaving hospital in Fl.

[onecent]

in droves....my my....WHAT A DIFFERENCE A HURRICANE MAKES.

Is Rita the ONE that is gonna get *?

[rodeodance]

1. why do you ask this question? I make the assumption the FEMA is in

a few hundred yards away-ready to rush in. It is Jeb's state.

.... Rita the ONE that is gonna get *?

[FloridaPat]

2. But it's not an election year. No one cares about us until next year.

[LittleClarkie]

4. The difference as well is that Jeb is used to this shit

and has an infrustructure in place. So his actions mask the fact that FEMA is near useless. If the locals don't do FEMA's job for them, the populace is screwed.

So I doubt what you're seeing is FEMA in action. Jeb just doesn't have his head up his ass when it comes to hurricanes.

[Patsy Stone]

10. That's exactly right, only it's been true even before Jeb.

Jeb's an asset in a hurricane due to family connections, to be sure. But as a near native Floridian I can tell you that we do hurricane season professionally.

There's been preparations and plans in place for years and it's almost second nature now.

This was true before Jeb and it will be true after Jeb. Once Andrew hit, we figured out quickly where the gaps were and filled them. Now Florida sends phone bank people out to other hurricane-hit areas to help with the things they don't even realize they need help with.

The local and state agencies are really good at their emergency plans. Information is constantly updated and widely broadcast. As a matter of fact, while I was watching WWWL in the days before and just after Katrina, I was amazed at the difference in coverage before it hit there versus what I had just watched before it hit here in South Florida. They'll have very different newscasts next summer, trust me.

[LittleClarkie]

11. If I were you guys

I'd want FEMA to stay the hell out. They only get in the way it seems, with disasterous results. Doctors told to stop saving lives, water just sitting there, buses just sitting there (Because according to a diary at Kos, FEMA told the Gov. they'd send air conditioned ones, except they didn't send them til Thursday. Gee. Thanks.)

We wanted them in sooner why?! So they could fuck up more sooner?! Eeek.

[Patsy Stone]

12. They do very little. No one needs them here except

They hand out tarps for roofs -- and checks.

Theoretically, they're supposed to be the organizers -- and it was an effective organization during Clinton's administration. The problem is now they've been weakened by someone's bright idea to include them in DHS, making too many chiefs; and putting a dork in charge whose sole job last year was to hand out money to people unaffected by the hurricanes and, essentially, buy votes with government money.

They didn't do anything to help people last year or this year. It was 99 percent state and local. They're the money men these days, and the money's been cut.

[tiptoe]

13. Bush' FEMA for sure (....not necessarily FEMA under different admin)

Bush' FEMA are saboteurs of federal operations...as part of neoconnazi strategy to promote privatization: make Government -- in general -- look bad.

Cake-eating, guitar-plucking Predator Bush doesn't have a conscience regarding human life...like mother, like son.

If Clinton's FEMA had been preserved instead of dismantled, FEMA would serve efficiently instead of destroy deliberately.

Umbrella agencies have been created with the help of Chaos events -- like 9/11 (possibly MIHOP, at least LIHOP, see below) -- NOT to assure efficient coordination of the previousy independent agencies they oversee, but to manipulate and control government agencies' diminished performance and output:
Director of National Intelligence (DNI)
Department of Homeland Security

Here's a list of examples NOT of FEMA (under Dept. Homeland Security) "incompetence"...but of an overriding policy to expand and exploit Chaos, regardless the cost in human lives: Can FEMA do anything right?!! Look at this list!

Another possible example -- we'll see how the story unfolds -- of sabotaged federal intelligence operations, allegedly by Neocon appointees under Bush I: Senate Testimony: Agent To Reveal Neo-Con Coverup of Atta ID Next Week

Other examples of deliberate promotion of CHaos for exploitation:

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s speech at the Sierra Summit, September 10, 2005
...
This is the worst environmental president we've had in American history. If you look at NRDC's website, you'll see over 400 major environmental rollbacks that are listed there that have been implemented or proposed by this administration over the past four years as part of a deliberate, concerted effort to eviscerate 30 years of environmental law. It's a stealth attack. The White House has used all kinds of ingenious machinations to try to conceal its radical agenda from the American people, including Orwellian rhetoric.
When they want to destroy the forests, they call it the Healthy Forest Act.
When they wanted to destroy the air, they called it the Clear Skies Bill...

[rainbow4321]

5. No kidding..he spills coffee on a keyboard and FEMA's there...n/t

[onecent]

6. ... The woman who is going to bring Bush down...see thread below

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=245&topic_id=11056&mesg_id=11056

[wakeme2008]

3. This could hurt *

If it show how much better FEMA is for his brother state.

[rainbow4321]

7. Jeb already had attitude..

during his press conf this morning: "In **OUR** state, we prepare for the worst and hope for the best"..no doubt meant as a slap at LA gov. His emphasis on the word "our" was pretty damn obvious.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. It is a telling

who has what and who does not and how the response is handled

Well I guess I'd better revise my statement if the killer quake hits cali tomorrow FEMA will show and do a good job, we have a Republican Governor after all, but if we elect a Democrat we can forget it.

[KharmaTrain]

9. It's Also Smaller...

Charity Hospital and Tulane University were large facilities. Also, these facilities were in the middle of the city...far from easy exit to evacuate. This is a lot different from the facility I heard holds several hundred patients vs thousand.

Interesting how a C-130 was flown in this afternoon specifically for this purpose. Hopefully this will be standard procedure in the future. In NOLA, all the airlines and AMTRACK closed up shop 24 hours in advance of the storm...despite Nagin pleading for them to wait a little longer.

A friend who works in the cruise business told me business has been way down this year. This is, for obvious reasons, a bad time for Carribbean cruises in general and the economy has cut back drastically on the family bookings...most people she sees are young or older couples. She says whatever last year's hurricane season didn't chase away, this one did. So she doesn't think there's as many people partyin' in Key West and Key Largo this year than in the past. Also there aren't as many ships out in the area...ones that would try to ride it out in Key West, Miami and Marco Island. Hopefully the storm will pass.

Any idea if a mandatory evacuation of the Conch Republic has been issued?