We should boo people from FEMA when we see them in public. Take the above logo and put it everywhere!
Salt Lake Tribune – Salt Lake Tribune Home Page — Do the FEMA stories never end? These guys must be the dumbest people in the country to keep this up. One of the best stories yet! A classic.
ATLANTA – Not long after some 1,000 firefighters sat down for eight hours of training, the whispering began: “What are we doing here?”
As New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin pleaded on national television for firefighters – his own are exhausted after working around the clock for a week – a battalion of highly trained men and women sat idle Sunday in a muggy Sheraton Hotel conference room in Atlanta.
Many of the firefighters, assembled from Utah and throughout the United States by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, thought they were going to be deployed as emergency workers.Instead, they have learned they are going to be community-relations officers for FEMA, shuffled throughout the Gulf Coast region to disseminate fliers and a phone number: 1-800-621-FEMA.
On Monday, some firefighters stuck in the staging area at the Sheraton peeled off their FEMA-issued shirts and stuffed them in backpacks, saying they refuse to represent the federal agency.
found by Twelvetwo
Guys let me start by saying I’m so far left that there’s a bit of a pink hue about the edges. To maintain credibility you should avoid piling on. There’s plenty of slander sites, and they really accomplish nothing. In any federal agency there’s a political administration. Under that are the career professionals that keep the country ticking through all the changes of administrations. I believe it’s important here to keep the focus on the leadership and the political appointees, not the career civil servants that may be trying their best in face of incredible stupidity.
In the end, articles like this work well for Bush. It will be easy for him to side step, and eventually bury, FEMA: An organization that has too much power and not enough intelligence.
At the same time, he’ll be able to praise the military for their efforts (and rightfully so) while attacking the weak local response (including the Governor’s use of the National Guard).
If true that’s complete B.S.
Since when did having press conferences take precident over saving lives. Getting sick of the B.S P.R
Twelvetwo, you’re the man. Where do you find this stuff?
This story is almost the most depressing of the entire disaster! I know the real story will be buried and forgotten, but it saddens me how low Bush is going to sink to accomplish the cover-up.
Almost as depressing as the entire disaster?
Way to invalidate yourself.
The AP has picked up and watered down this story:
http://tinyurl.com/8sedr
The AP version leaves out the fact that these guys are PR shills to make FEMA look good.
The story is still pretty good. First, it’s simply idiotic to ‘train” professional firemen. What does FEMA know that these veteran firemen don’t already know?! Second, why in the fuck are they being trained in sexual harassment when there’s people to be rescued?! Is the Left back in office?! Is this occurring in Berkley for godsakes?!
Basically, the article makes FEMA look bad, but more incompetent than immoral.
In any tragedy there are always “silver linings.”
At least we now know what it takes to get Bush’s butt out of Crawford! A Cat 4 hurricane with hundreds dead isn’t enough.
But now we know that the full distruction of a major American city will at least get him on a plane for a photo op.
Ah, yes, the photo op. Bush can’t win.
Last week, everyone was bitching ’cause he was doing the smart thing: keeping the hell out of the way so that others could focus on doing their jobs.
But of course, everyone perceived his seclusion as being uncaring for the suffering masses. So he succumbs to the potical pressure and boards a helicopter. Now it’s a photo op!
As to the truth of the article: the Salt Lake Tribune has a knack for putting a leftist spin on their articles. The new owners of the paper are trying hard to emulate the New York Times. I don’t doubt that the quotes are authentic, but I do wonder how hard they had to search to find them.
Still, “FEMA competance” or “You’ve been FEMAed” will become useful descriptors for slandering an organization describing an unfortunate victim.
I guess we really shouldn’t be surprised that FEMA is a farce. Since when has ANY federal agency performed well? Let’s see … Education, EPA, DOT, IRS, Commerce, Energy, NASA, FBI — why DID we expect competance from FEMA? Just because lives are at stake?
“Way to invalidate yourself.”
James Hill, could you please repost with a complete sentence? I have no idea what you’re talking about. Thanks!
Smith
Most government agencies work and work well. So well in fact that we take them for granted until we need someone to abuse. Yes, some will make mistakes, but they will do their jobs. The FBI will chase down law breakers, the IRS will collect taxes, DOT will enforce interstate commerce, and the INS will stop illegal immigration. Ooopps, well forget the INS, but I did say most agencies.
Here we have an agency that sole purpose is to coordinate relief efforts when the local authorities are overwhelmed. Because FEMA has been so hollowed by dubya, they are now having a difficult time doing their job. One lesson we expected in the aftermath of 9/11 was that local agencies would need a Federal coordinator to organize and direct the rescue and relief. There have been so many errors made by FEMA that their ability to act is being rightly questioned.
In this specific case, we knew ahead of time that a major hurricane was headed towards a vulnerable city. FEMA was slow to react and didn’t have any plan to work with.
In your list I didn’t see the most dysfunctional federal group; dubya and his cabinet.
I could not believe the last comment from the AP article (link in #6):
“We’ll get sent out when the time is right.”
Apparently, FEMA not only managed to train these firefighters on such urgent matters as the history of FEMA, they also managed to brainwash them into thinking that obeying incompetant beaureacrats is more important than saving dying people.
As much as I like GW Bush, I have to admit he and his administration have done a horrible job not only this year, but many previous (not that the previous administrations did such a great job). Every year we hear how FEMA screwed up, yet no one fixes it. If we applied the same purpose of mind to FEMA that is applied to NASA when a shuttle blows up, we might actually get somewhere. I suspect that in 2008, we will have a Democratic administration, Senate and House. At the very least, we should overhaul FEMA, strip out the red tape, give it real funding, develop real emergency plans, and practice them.
A Deus Ex reference? Cool points to you. One of the more exceptional games of Warren Spector’s career. (But why did he give so much control over to his head artist for the second game?)
I’m shocked that this even needs to be explained.
By saying that a story reporting something as minor as this is some how as bad as the disaster itself shows a lack of understanding of the scale of the disaster.
You’re not going to hear me saying that FEMA did a great job. They didn’t. But the idea that the two topics compare is a joke, and invalidates anything else you have to say.
At least try to put some effort behind the far left comments, guys. This blog is getting boring as it is. Without any substance, it might as well be Air America.
This has to make you feel confident in the Dept Homeland Security since FEMA is a sub-organization. I suppose the problem is that FEMA doesn’t yet have it’s own color coding emergency status announcement system. I’m sure, if there was a Hurricane Katrina red status code for MS & LA then everyone would have responded more efficiently.
This has to make you feel real good about the next potential terrorist attack as Hurricane Andrew should have taught enough lessons to make this much more manageable especially since I think FEMA was created after Hurricane Andrew in the first place to specifically address these kinds of disasters. This likely means we haven’t really learned anything from 9/11 either except to find ways to make things even worse than the disaster itself.
FEMA is not a ‘first responder’.
Local officials have to (1) have their emergency plans in place BEFORE a disaster, and (2) request aid from FEMA WHEN the disaster occurs, telling what they need, and where.
NOLA had number 1 in place but from everything I’ve read, didn’t do number 2. Except complain.
A responsible media action would be to ask Mayor Nagin when he started the ball rolling to get state and FEMA aid. Ditto for the Governor.
I’ve used your FEMA SUCKS image and have produced a top 10 countdown for the renaming FEMA……
Im a very highly quilified firefighter in maryland. maryland had an additional 36 USAR, HAZ-MAT, and other special operation teams in place and ready to go. FEMA and MEMA (marylands version) denied us the chance to go help. stateing that, they could not insure all of the peices of apparatis and the firefighter going. therefore FEMA and the shitty state of maryland denied many many of firefighters from going. FEMA is a joke they ask us for help than tell us no and now followed by now this. Im here to tell you FEMA did not do there job and were not prepared for this disaster. now my question is what if insteed of a hurricaine what if this would have been a bomb or something else related. this just showed the rest of the world that we are way more vaunarble than anyone had ever imagined.
I was forced out of New Orleans to flee Katrina. FEMA is now inspecting residences aerially to determine if people are eligible to continue to receive disaster assistance. They informed me after such an inspection by air that my home wasnt adequately damaged.
Of course there was no way they could know that water damage had collapsed my ceiling and made the place unliveable as well as in undated with toxic unbreathable insulation material.
I was informed I d received the maximum household assistance for 6 months and that was it.
Believe it ?
That FEMA…..what a brilliant organization.