Good Rant on dismantling FEMA

[MSgt213]

David Broder must be one of those inside-the-Beltway types who is heavily dosed-up, because he does things like produce a column about leaks in which he advises Bush to make clear that he will be less secretive - as if he is actually going to do it - ending with, "When he has given that signal, there may be fewer Mary McCarthys contemplating the costs -- and burdens -- of leaking to the press."

Bush isn't interested in that outcome, as everyone out here in the real world has already noticed.

Bush, like most Republicans, has no interest in actually making government work. Government is a means by which our money is collected and handed over to corporations and cronies. That's all. It's not supposed to work.

Of course, if Broder wants to keep his job, he'll soft-pedal any real criticisms of The Bush Corporation. The editorials at the Post will help him remember that it's better to mislead the public than serve any airy-fairy Fourth Estate purposes.

We can still get the story if we dig deep enough in the papers, but you won't see the front page telling us that the purpose of this administration is to eliminate any competence in government to serve the public. No, let's just make sure the EPA doesn't do it's job so Republicans can say, "See? Government can't do anything! You pay taxes for this and you don't get it!" After which they can safely eliminate the programs without lowering your taxes. Eventually, the programs will be gone and you won't be hearing all that anti-tax rhetoric anymore - it will be patriotic to pay taxes, again.

In the meantime, they'll demand that we fork over huge amounts of money in the name of national security (or "fighting terror", she laughed bitterly), while making sure that any measure that would actually protect our security is round-filed. I mean, it's not like we should worry about nuclear materials being illegally imported into our country, undetected, by people whose purposes are not friendly to our citizens.

So first you wreck the program, then you claim its failures are the result of the fact that "government programs don't work" - relying on amnesia about the fact that it worked just fine before they started "fixing" it - and then they decide we need to abolish it rather than putting it back the way it was when it used to work.

Oh, and just to make it seem like it's coming from sensible people, we have some specially-labelled "moderates" - one from each party - to make a proposal to abolish, oh, say, FEMA. Like Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Leiberman (R-DLC). And the start of hurricane season just a month away, too!

http://sideshow.me.uk/sapr06.htm#04271543

[msongs]

1. FEMA worked well under Clinton. Bushco downsized it and rolled it into

homeland insecurity department, then stocked it with incompetent cronies who knew nothing about disaster planning. Had they known about
disaster planning they would never have associated with Bush hehe.

Since congress is to blame for downsizing and wrecking FEMA, it takes a lot of nerve for congress to complain about FEMA.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[Coastie for Truth]

2. I would separate FEMA into its two halves

The FHA - SBA - Re-Insurance Function

With the insurance companies pulling out of the Earthquake and Flood and Hurricane market - this is essential to avoid a DEPRESSION from the next natural disaster (and there will be one). This is basically a mortgage appraiser, insurance actuary and adjuster function.

The "Emergency Responder" Function

The is everything from "Coast Guard helos and fire trucks and Comm Vans and Emergency Operations Centers and Tents and Mess Trailers and wreckage removal and MASH Field Hospitals" to "Red Cross and Salvation Army and Southern Baptist Brotherhood family support"


Historical Snippet- The "Life Saving" part of the Coast Guard did not come from Alexander Hamilton's Revenue Cutter Service - but from "faith based" Life Savers on the Carolina Outer Banks -- and when I was a real Coastie - our "Casualty Reports" referred to "Souls On Board" and "Souls Saved" and "Souls Lost."

So, let's put all of this "macho stuff" (I am a Coast Guard veteran, a Red Cross volunteer, a Ham Radio Operator, and I go to the Salvation Army Prayer Breakfast once a year) with the RED and BLUE flashing lights and Halligans and Hoses and Ladders into some combination of the DOD National Guard Bureau and the State Guards, and the Volunteer Fire Departments and the Volunteer Rescue Squads - give them joint training with real equipment - and work in the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.