A Heck of a Job
Well, Brownie is just the tip of the iceberg: the entire administration has essentially been sitting on its duffs (I'm especially outraged by Condi Rice-- how could she be enjoying plays and shopping on 5th Avenue?? If she dares try in 2008, I hope all the decent people in this country rise as one and remind the press and the voters of this disgusting behavior!). This isn't to say the good folks in the Louisiana gummint are doing a whole lot better; this is all sort of Monday morning quarterbacking on my part (and a whole lot of other people's parts!), but it seems to me that given that hurricanes have been a fact of life in the Carribean, the Gulf, and the Atlantic Coast since time immemorial, given that New Orleans has basically been a sitting duck for a direct hit since it was founded in 1718, and given that hurricanes like Camille (1969) and Andrew (1992) have proved the folly of just sitting around and letting it all blow over, that gummint at *all* levels should have had a much more solid plan than they did.
As usual with this administration, there's a lot of jabberjawing, and usually the docile, subservient press just gushes, or ignores, or accepts whatever is said and done, as may be the case. But this time there's some real reporting going on, some real attention being paid to what's being said and what's actually been done. Hint: actions say a hell of a lot more than words, whether it's your basic boyfriend-girlfriend rapport, a marriage, a boss-employee relationship, or the gummint and the governed. CNN posted a good outline of the differences between what Brownie and Chertoff have been spouting, and what Nagin, the evacuees, and eyewitnesses state.
Brownie apparently directed FEMA to the Gulf region *hours* after the hurricane struck, and *not* at any time before. I'd like his punishment to be this: shuttled to ground zero of any predicted hurricane strike during hurricane season for the next 20 years. That should cure him of any notion of taking his time hereafter.
As usual, Smirk, who was already AWOL in Arizona and California, shoved his foot in his mouth alongside his outsized silver spoon and said that he didn't think anyone could have anticipated the levees failing. To be charitable, I don't think Smirk's smart enough to have realized that, but I'm sure someone around him-- Scowl, Rice, Rove, or his former babysitter, Karen Hughes, for heaven's sake, knew perfectly well that there had been many, many years of concern about the levees in and around New Orleans, and could have told him as much. Not only that, but funds were diverted to Iraq and Homeland Security, instead of to the Army Corps of Engineers to work on the levees and hurricane and flood-control measures.
What really bugs me is that Bill Clinton is stepping up to defend Smirk; given that Smirk replaced Clinton's man at FEMA with hacks and cronies, I'd think it'd be politically prudent of Clinton to just not say anything. Why stick up for a totally incompetent leader at a time when he needs to just accept responsibility?
It's pretty sad when people on their own initiative do a better job than our gummint. It's even sadder when they get punished for it. I hope this outstanding young man ends up much better than the raw deal he's getting right now: being jailed for taking an abandoned bus, picking up survivors, and driving to the Astrodome.
Another disturbing thing is that doctors were apparently blocked, thanks to bureaucracy and a lack of common sense, from doing the job they should have been allowed to do.
I'd like to make a couple of humble suggestions for the future.
1) A national database be administered by a *competent* and independent authority, comprised of contact information of doctors, nurses, paramedics, and emergency personnel who are willing to volunteer and assist in an emergency. A National Medical Guard, if you will (but not one that is subject to fighting in morally dubious wars!). This way, credentials can be checked in advance, red tape eliminated and bureaucratic rules relaxed, while any essential guidelines remain enforced. Once an emergency occurs, a central headquarters can quickly access the database, contact medical personnel, and direct them where they are most needed. This would resolve the lack of communication, the uncertainty, and the boondoggles many have faced in the last week or so.
2) In the wake of the Pentagon's pending closures of numerous bases, depots, and other military installations, that an amendment be made to existing statutes to permit a portion or section of each site to be closed now and in the future, to be permanently set aside as a camp/barracks/dormitory area for natural, biological, and military disasters. This way evacuees, refugees, and others needing temporary housing can immediately seek shelter, be housed or relocated, or otherwise assigned a place to stay without resorting to more extreme measures. The military has tons of land all over the country, and I'm sure could easily allocate a few acres, if not more, for this purpose, before turning over to local and state authorities the remainder of the property when the base/depot is closed.
3) Federal, state, and local transportation be centrally coordinated during a time of emergency. The so-called Department of Homeland Security has just been shown up as a joke; FEMA was absorbed into DHS, and nothing's happening. I say disband DHS, and enable the agencies under it with the tools they need to function. Instead of DHS, improve coordination and communication between the various agencies.
In the case of transportation, buses (such as those school busses sitting in the yards in New Orleans!), trains (Amtrak is under the gummint- why wasn't it utilized better?), and planes could have been placed under immediate requisition *prior* to the hurricane and used to transport people out of the city, rather than abandoning them. Even if all of these methods could not have taken everyone out prior to the hurricane, there certainly could have been ways to try to get people out faster immediately afterwards. From what I'm reading so far, there was absolutely no attempt to use every transportation method possible beforehand, and certainly it's not happening fast enough posthaste.
I'm sure, given more time, I could come up with more ideas. I'm sure a lot of you could come up with suggestions. It's a shame our gummint is run as a sort of glad-handing glee club, with chumminess the prerequisite, rather than as a meritocracy as it should be. I highly doubt our Congress will step up to the plate and do a full-scale investigation as it should be done, but I hope some lessons were learned here, and that they stick. I'd hate to see this happen a second time...
As usual with this administration, there's a lot of jabberjawing, and usually the docile, subservient press just gushes, or ignores, or accepts whatever is said and done, as may be the case. But this time there's some real reporting going on, some real attention being paid to what's being said and what's actually been done. Hint: actions say a hell of a lot more than words, whether it's your basic boyfriend-girlfriend rapport, a marriage, a boss-employee relationship, or the gummint and the governed. CNN posted a good outline of the differences between what Brownie and Chertoff have been spouting, and what Nagin, the evacuees, and eyewitnesses state.
Brownie apparently directed FEMA to the Gulf region *hours* after the hurricane struck, and *not* at any time before. I'd like his punishment to be this: shuttled to ground zero of any predicted hurricane strike during hurricane season for the next 20 years. That should cure him of any notion of taking his time hereafter.
As usual, Smirk, who was already AWOL in Arizona and California, shoved his foot in his mouth alongside his outsized silver spoon and said that he didn't think anyone could have anticipated the levees failing. To be charitable, I don't think Smirk's smart enough to have realized that, but I'm sure someone around him-- Scowl, Rice, Rove, or his former babysitter, Karen Hughes, for heaven's sake, knew perfectly well that there had been many, many years of concern about the levees in and around New Orleans, and could have told him as much. Not only that, but funds were diverted to Iraq and Homeland Security, instead of to the Army Corps of Engineers to work on the levees and hurricane and flood-control measures.
What really bugs me is that Bill Clinton is stepping up to defend Smirk; given that Smirk replaced Clinton's man at FEMA with hacks and cronies, I'd think it'd be politically prudent of Clinton to just not say anything. Why stick up for a totally incompetent leader at a time when he needs to just accept responsibility?
It's pretty sad when people on their own initiative do a better job than our gummint. It's even sadder when they get punished for it. I hope this outstanding young man ends up much better than the raw deal he's getting right now: being jailed for taking an abandoned bus, picking up survivors, and driving to the Astrodome.
Another disturbing thing is that doctors were apparently blocked, thanks to bureaucracy and a lack of common sense, from doing the job they should have been allowed to do.
I'd like to make a couple of humble suggestions for the future.
1) A national database be administered by a *competent* and independent authority, comprised of contact information of doctors, nurses, paramedics, and emergency personnel who are willing to volunteer and assist in an emergency. A National Medical Guard, if you will (but not one that is subject to fighting in morally dubious wars!). This way, credentials can be checked in advance, red tape eliminated and bureaucratic rules relaxed, while any essential guidelines remain enforced. Once an emergency occurs, a central headquarters can quickly access the database, contact medical personnel, and direct them where they are most needed. This would resolve the lack of communication, the uncertainty, and the boondoggles many have faced in the last week or so.
2) In the wake of the Pentagon's pending closures of numerous bases, depots, and other military installations, that an amendment be made to existing statutes to permit a portion or section of each site to be closed now and in the future, to be permanently set aside as a camp/barracks/dormitory area for natural, biological, and military disasters. This way evacuees, refugees, and others needing temporary housing can immediately seek shelter, be housed or relocated, or otherwise assigned a place to stay without resorting to more extreme measures. The military has tons of land all over the country, and I'm sure could easily allocate a few acres, if not more, for this purpose, before turning over to local and state authorities the remainder of the property when the base/depot is closed.
3) Federal, state, and local transportation be centrally coordinated during a time of emergency. The so-called Department of Homeland Security has just been shown up as a joke; FEMA was absorbed into DHS, and nothing's happening. I say disband DHS, and enable the agencies under it with the tools they need to function. Instead of DHS, improve coordination and communication between the various agencies.
In the case of transportation, buses (such as those school busses sitting in the yards in New Orleans!), trains (Amtrak is under the gummint- why wasn't it utilized better?), and planes could have been placed under immediate requisition *prior* to the hurricane and used to transport people out of the city, rather than abandoning them. Even if all of these methods could not have taken everyone out prior to the hurricane, there certainly could have been ways to try to get people out faster immediately afterwards. From what I'm reading so far, there was absolutely no attempt to use every transportation method possible beforehand, and certainly it's not happening fast enough posthaste.
I'm sure, given more time, I could come up with more ideas. I'm sure a lot of you could come up with suggestions. It's a shame our gummint is run as a sort of glad-handing glee club, with chumminess the prerequisite, rather than as a meritocracy as it should be. I highly doubt our Congress will step up to the plate and do a full-scale investigation as it should be done, but I hope some lessons were learned here, and that they stick. I'd hate to see this happen a second time...
posted by Mr. Sandman | 3:24 PM
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