[i]MSNBC.com disclosed in July 2006 that many of the trailers harbored potentially harmful levels of formaldehyde, but testimony last month before a House subcommittee revealed that FEMA was aware of the problem several months earlier, after many of its own employees came forward with concerns.
As recently as late last month, FEMA said it would continue using the trailers, but congressional leaders were outraged after documents revealed that FEMA lawyers had advised the agency to downplay the concerns to “prevent ownership of the problem” and exposing the agency to liability issues. [/i]
This is our government at work. If this was a corporation, heads would go to jail for the cover-up as a conspiracy to commit harm.
And for you big government lovers… The ineptness of this department should be a warning sign that gov’t. sponsored health care would … suck just as bad.
It isn’t impossible for the government to sponsor a sense of responsibility or have policies that promote it.
Strangely, wasn’t it the Bush administration which worked to dismantle “whistleblower” legislation which would protect those that uncovered government ineptitude? Perhaps the timing was only coincidental, but I recall this being in the news.
In any case, it’s not that things must be horribly mismanaged, but that nobody is even taking steps to hold people accountable or make it easier for bullshit like the above to be brought to the light of day.
It’s truly a sad time for government these days, whether it is the admin, various departments or Congress… what the hell is going on?
Name one federal government program that works the way it was intended.
You can’t.
Why?
Because the fed should not be in the business of doing anything but building infrastructure, securing a money supply, providing a legal system, and maintaining a strong defense.
Everything else - from welfare to the EPA - is leeching the citizen of his hard earned money.
It’s truly a sad time for government these days, whether it is the admin, various departments or Congress… what the hell is going on?
It has always been this way and often worse.
What the hell were those people still doing in trailers? Wasn’t Katrina 2 years ago?
Get a fucking job![/quote]
Now, now, Zap. A lot of those people were living in low rent houses and apartments that were destroyed by the storm. These trailers are what for those still living in them can afford. Many of them work, and even hold the same job they had before the storm, but rent has risen substantially since Katrina and Rita, and raises haven’t been up. So, they can’t really afford to get out…yet.
I know there are those that are living off the government. That has been and will be.
Report details US refusals of foreign aid after Katrina
A new report reveals the US government turned down offers of help from across the globe in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, telling one diplomat “human assistance of any kind is not on our priorities list.” http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Report_details_US_refusals_of_foreign_0727.html
[quote]kroby wrote:
Yeah, JTF… but what did AIPAC and Mossad have to do with this? That’s what I want to know, and you can deliver.[/quote]
Hmmm, let me think – who’s in charge of HOMELAND SECURITY/FEMA? Oh, thats right…
Chertoff Delayed Federal Response, Memo Shows
WASHINGTON - The federal official with the power to mobilize a massive federal response to Hurricane Katrina was Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, not the former FEMA chief who was relieved of his duties and resigned earlier this week, federal documents reviewed by Knight Ridder show…
As thousands of hurricane victims went without food, water and shelter in the days after Katrina’s early morning Aug. 29 landfall, critics assailed Brown for being responsible for delays that might have cost hundreds of lives.
But Chertoff - not Brown - was in charge of managing the national response to a catastrophic disaster, according to the National Response Plan, the federal government’s blueprint for how agencies will handle major natural disasters or terrorist incidents… http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0914-04.htm
Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security
Chertoff is Jewish and is married to Meryl Justin. They have two children and live in Potomac, Maryland.
Chertoff was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the son of Rabbi Gershon Baruch Chertoff, the former leader of the B’nai Israel Congregation in Elizabeth, and El Al flight attendant Livia Chertoff. His paternal grandfather, Rabbi Paul Chertoff, emigrated from Russia. His grandfather was a noted Talmudic scholar.
Close enough?
Chertoff, always lookin’ out for the little guy…
$236 Million Cruise Ship Deal Criticized
Carnival CEO defends cruise ship deal for hurricane evacuees
Carnival Corp. CEO Micky Arison defended his company’s $236 million contract with the federal government to use cruise ships to house hurricane victims, denying reports Friday that the vessels were mostly empty…
Micky Arison is the Chief Executive Officer of Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest cruise operator, and owner of the NBA’s Miami Heat. Forbes magazine places Arison’s wealth at $6.1 billion, making him the 94th wealthiest person in the world as of 2006. He is the son of the late Ted Arison, Carnival Corporation’s founder
Ted Arison, world’s wealthiest Jew, dies in Tel Aviv
Within two decades he became a world-class shipping tycoon, entering the holiday cruise business with his 1972 launch of Carnival Cruise Lines…
Privatize everything! And yes those mutts in the trailers should get fuckin jobs ZAP!
One thing everybody should remember is that gov’t agencies never work like they are supposed to,FEMA proved that in Andrew. The program didn’t have protocol for a disaster that size. The logistical nightmare of trying to provide relief to all those people at once is unbelievable. It is an ASSISTING organization not a hold your fucking hand the whole way program.
Everybody expects the gov’t to make it all better when they want it to happen,but it is just not realistic, I don’t care how well you got it together. An effort that large is going to have all kinds of commo, logistical and funding lapses. People are always ready to point the finger, they are the same ones without any sound solutions to the problem.
[quote]T-MIA wrote:
Privatize everything! And yes those mutts in the trailers should get fuckin jobs ZAP!
One thing everybody should remember is that gov’t agencies never work like they are supposed to,FEMA proved that in Andrew. The program didn’t have protocol for a disaster that size. The logistical nightmare of trying to provide relief to all those people at once is unbelievable. It is an ASSISTING organization not a hold your fucking hand the whole way program.
Everybody expects the gov’t to make it all better when they want it to happen,but it is just not realistic, I don’t care how well you got it together. An effort that large is going to have all kinds of commo, logistical and funding lapses. People are always ready to point the finger, they are the same ones without any sound solutions to the problem. [/quote]
Privatization is RUINING everything. Iraq and New Orleans are proof positive – just about every company involved is run like a mob business. The main company gets a giant government contract and then they subcontract out the work, and then that subcontractor hires a subcontractor, etc, etc…
Wait until they really start “privatizing” all the public water – don’t be surprised if your regular morning shower suddenly costs you $10 a pop in the not so distant future because water is becoming so “scarce”. Imagine if the oil companies were suddenly in charge of the nation’s water supply.
Fortune magazine has predicted that water “will be to the 21st-century what oil was to the 20th.” Indeed, Texas oilman (and corporate raider) T. Boone Pickens now heads Mesa Water Inc., which has water rights covering more than 150,000 acres of the massive Ogallala aquifer.
Every market needs competition to relay competitive business and quality business.
For example the US gov’t could never replicate the service provided by Halliburton and affiliates. It simply doesn’t have the means to make it cost effective. Hey I wish Gov’t agencies worked as much as the next guy and they do to an extent.
The point Im making is that everytime the Gov’t does implicate a program the public cries about it til to the point nothing is ever good enough. So privatize it if thats what everybody wants. Then everyone can scream at big corporations.
Americans are spoiled rotten.
As for privatization… that’s the worst thing that could happen. Remember de-regulating energy? ENRON anyone? There are vital resources that the country has to regulate, as there are so many greedy, underhanded take-advantage-of-you scum that would rape you blind.
JTF the point is that those private companies are needed to provide a certain caliber service that the gov’t can’t provide for itself cost effectively. If it could it would. Kroby your absolutely right there are plenty of scumbags poised to line their pockets in that situation.That is unfortunate, but there are plenty of scumbags in gov’t who are poised to line their pockets no matter what. Hopefully, one day we can further weed out those few who can’t stifle their greed. I am a firm believer int he idea that water will fuel this or the next centuries wars,but that wont be contingent on privatization.