Has anyone seen FEMA lately? It seems we have people dying by the dozens in the midwest, where they’ve been freezing to death for a few days. Local officials are calling out the Federal government for its notable lack of response.
Meanwhile, the uncertainty of when power might be restored had many appealing for help. Officials urged those in dark homes to leave.
“We’re asking people to pack a suitcase and head south and find a motel if they have the means, because we can’t service everybody in our shelter,” said Crittenden County Judge-Executive Fred Brown, who oversees about 9,000 people, many of whom spent a fifth night sleeping in the town’s elementary school.
Local officials grew angrier at what they said was a lack of help from the state and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In Kentucky’s Grayson County, about 80 miles southwest of Louisville, Emergency Management Director Randell Smith said the 25 National Guardsmen who have responded have no chain saws to clear fallen trees. He said roads are littered with fallen trees and people shivering in bone-chilling cold are in need.
“We’ve got people out in some areas we haven’t even visited yet,” Smith said. “We don’t even know that they’re alive.”
Smith said FEMA was still a no-show days after the storm.
“I’m not saying we can’t handle it,” Smith said. “We’re handling it. But it sure would have made life a lot easier.”
And good for them. They’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing. However, the Federal government is not doing what we have been told for years by Democrats and the MSM that it is supposed to do. The lack of criticism is deafening.
In truth, organizing a rescue and support effort is not an easy thing to do. It takes particular knowledge of the area involved and the resources on hand to work effectively. Otherwise the rescue effort flails around for a while. That’s why we usually leave such things in the hands of local officials unless, like in the case of Hurricane Katrina, local officials prove completely incompetent. Reasonable people can not expect the Federal government to simply swoop in a day or to after a disaster and work at anything near top effectiveness. Then again, it’s not unfair for us to hold the Obama administration to the same standards the MSM and Democrats held the Bush administration.
By those standards, the President is failing and people are dying.
UPDATE: The Anchoress has also noticed the strange case of the MSM not barking in the night.
UPDATE 2: Linked by Ed Driscoll, Michelle Malkin, and The Anchoress. Thanks to all of you!
Shame I didn’t get the Instalanche from Glenn Reynolds though he liked my headline enough, to give Ed the link credit for it. Oh well. At least the link went to someone I respect quite a bit. Ed’s a standup guy, a heck of a good writer, and one of the cooler folks I know on Twitter.
UPDATE 3: Linked by Tammy Bruce. Thank you!
While you’re here, folks, why not take a good look around? Our President is giving the Mullahs a case of disco fever, cheating on your taxes is the new black, Nancy Pelosi is making us all dumber, and the word “rush” doesn’t mean what it used to.
If you like what you see, come on back again. Drop a buck in the tip jar or buy yourself something nice from Amazon. It all helps!
UPDATE 4: Linked by Stacy McCain, who cleverly coined “the newly-created Department of Unicorns and Rainbows” and has inspired many a magical post of mine. Thank you!
Tags: Barack Obama, Humanitarian Disasters, Hurricane Katrina, Media Bias
Agreed, but of course this is the FEMA the Bush administration built.
Indeed? Seems to me that Obama people are at the top of the ladder and is it their lack of response that’s not getting FEMA into the area.
Again, the silence from the MSM is telling.
The word here in the Arkansas papers on Thursday was that FEMA was here with generators but couldn’t start distributing until the President signed the emergency declaration. He took his sweet time since we were a red state in the election!
[...] Bise recalls The Hounds of the Baskervilles. When they don’t bark, it’s [...]
[...] Jimmie at Sundries Shack: “Obama dozed, people froze.” [...]
Why is this Bush’s fault? He’s been out of office since the anointed one has taken his ascension to the throne oops Oval Office. Obama doesn’t get to pass the buck on this – it all is happening on his watch – and HE has the power to deploy FEMA – Bush at this point does not.
[...] Continued: The Sundries Shack. [...]
Dave is right. While the top posts have been filled in the cabinet, it’s still the same Bush people for now in the other positions.
Liz, do you remember complaining less than two weeks ago about all the hoopla surrounding the inaguaration? Well, it’s been less than two weeks. Most lower level appointees in most administrations take up to a year to get confirmed, and yet you want an administration that has existed for TEN DAYS to be completely different from the one before it.
Can you screen and hire 100′s of people and then have them come into the job ready to go in TEN DAYS?
And Jimmie is also right. Why can’t you all just heat your own. I’m sure you weren’t crying over the people washed out on Goat Island last September, am I right?
And Teri, that chip on your sholder is unattractive.
It’s the people at the top who give the orders do the people below them. FEMA’s response has been considerably less than stellar thus far. They started getting their people in on Friday, days after the storm. That’s slow movement and there’s no indication that the Obama administration is taking the situation seriously at all.
Like I wrote in my post, I don’t think anyone should expect the Federal government to move quickly under even the best circumstances. The states and local jurisdictions should be handling the bulk of the needs of their state. However, that is not the standard by which I have chosen to judge our President. If you think my standard is unreasonable, don’t blame me. I didn’t set it. It was set by the Democratic Party and the MSM after both 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.
Jimmie, you are wrong about the standard. I don’t think I have to spell it out to you. You know that Obama has only been president for 10 days. The people in charge of FEMA have only been in place for those ten days, not eight months or four and a half years.
Just stop it and try to resist the urge to criticize at every turn. I know that this looks like a long few years for you. I can understand. But if you try at least to be fair and stop fighting all of the strawmen, you might actually find that both your self-sufficiency argument and timely federal response will be the norm and not the exception.
Just a thought.
Jimmie, you are right. If Bush was the president now, we would not hear the end of it.
Where is Obama and where is FEMA ? It is his FEMA now. Federal agencies will keep most of their employees while presidents come and go, and only the heads of agencies or departments change depending on the party in power. So, it is Obama’s FEMA.
Again, this is not my standard but the one under which the last President lived for eight years. I’m sure you remember how much criticism he got for not being ready for 9/11 even though he had been President for less than nine months (which is less than the year’s slack you seem willing to give President Obama). That was a far more serious incident than this and he was pilloried for not being right on top of things from the very beginning.
Again, I did not set the standard. I’m just holding this President to it. If you want to change the standard, then some apologies to the last President are in order.
Nina, it’s just not that way. In terms of confirming people in positions and operational ability, 10 days in, it is still the Bush administration people.
And your notion that federal agencies will keep mostof their employees? Were you alive during the Reagan administration? Every administration tries — with success or failure — to politicize the civil servant ranks. If you don’t know that, you’ve got some catching up to do.
As I suggested to Jimmie, try to curb your enthusiasm when it comes to blaming the new administration, especially just 10 days out. You look foolish if you don’t.
Again, Jimmie, Bush had eith months, not ten days. And I don’t know who you are talking to when you mention a year. I haven’t said anything of the kind. Are you imagining things?
He should have been on top of national security by eight months in and surely on top of national disasters by 4 and a half years in, don’t ya think?
If President Bush had been held to the ten day standard, then yes, I would apologize. But he wasn’t and you are just being coy.
Ah, I see where you got the “year’s slack” you claim I gave Obama. The year or so it takes to confirm lower level appointees is a fact for every administration. You must know that.
I’ll quote you: “Most lower level appointees in most administrations take up to a year to get confirmed”.
Now who would those lower-level appointees have been under Bush in the national security framework, do you imagine?
The truth is that the failure of FEMA is not in its lower-level appointeed but in the people running it right now. The people inside FEMA know what they need to do – it’s formula. They only require the directions be given to them by the people at the top. Those directions are not being given. How hard is it, do you think, to say “Hey, we need to get these local officials on the phone to find out what they need and where they need it. Once you learn that, get them what they need and don’t take three days to do it”? The article gives no indication at all that FEMA has even made contact at the local level. That’s not a failure of the rank and file FEMA workers, but of the leadership. If the President had given the order on Wednesday, when we knew that things were bad, there’s be more than a few scattered National Guard members lacking chainsaws in place right now.
You can argue that we should not expect FEMA to move quickly and I’d agree with you in a heartbeat. I’ve said that twice now. But we do, thanks largely to the expectations given to us by the MSM and Democrats. Now, when FEMA is not moving quickly, you want to throw the President an easy alibi. Sorry, but no.
Without a time stamp, it would seem that I pre-empted your response, but I’ll give a little since I have the time.
Lower level people weren’t the ones responsible for the administration’s national security. President Bush and his top level confirmed team were.
I don’t really get where you seem to be equating an ice storm with 9/11 or Katrina — given that I live on the Gulf coast, you are arguing a losing battle with me as far as FEMA is concerned (though my dumbass neighbor seems to think that people with homeowners insurance are getting something for free from FEMA — another story).
The people trying to run it right now are in an acting position. The people who are running it right now are still the same people from the last few years.
If you are relying on one article, I’d say that would be a mistake. From what I’ve heard, the gov has been quite happy with FEMA. But you can look that up yourself, right?
And if you think that the President should declare a national emergency before the gov does a state one, well I can’t help you with that.
Jimmie, you know you are barking up a steep tree. Why not give the man at least a couple of weeks or even a month before you start making nonsense claims.
You blog about national topics; you should at least know how they work.
Lastly TEN DAYS does not equal EIGHT MONTHS nor does it equal FOUR AND ONE HALF YEARS.
That should be clear.
OBAMA DOESN’T LIKE COLD PEOPLE!!!
Got trouble? Blame Bush! Besides all the chainsaws are in thr Iraqi desert! Bwahahhaaaaa!
[...] Bise recalls The Hounds of the Baskervilles. When they don’t bark, it’s [...]
[...] dying in Kentucky-Where is the outrage? Does Obama hate White folks? Why is he not helping Kentucky? Why is he letting Americans die while he is all toasty and [...]
I would think that the majority of folks in Kentucky might already be more resourceful than to need FEMA at all. Mind you, I got no problem with critics to barry hussein, but being a Tennessee and Minnesota survivor, I’m wondering where the folks with woodstoves are and all the cords they had to have laid in for the winter(even if the weather was going to be bad or not)I hope the weather clears up for the sake of those who weren’t prepared.
If this was New Orleans, a blue state, or the north atlantic states, do you think the MSM would be as quiet or the POTUS & FEMA response would be the same? I think not.
Jimmie,
I came via MM. Too bad you didn’t get the Instalanche though.
Wow the BDS crowd is still blaming Bush for everything. A little counseling is in order for you nuts. Obama dropped the ball on this. Nice how the MSM is still covering for this loser. If this was Bush’s fault it would be front page news everywhere. I guess if you are dying it only counts if you are black and in New Orleans. Hey can KY get a class action suit against the Goracle because it is not supposed to be this cold?
Liberal msm ignoring… Blah Blah. You righties are comparing the worst hurricane in hundreds of years (Katrina) and FEMA’s lack of response to the hurricane… To people losing their power after a snowstorm? Please go crawl back under your rocks until another GOP President is elected. Which hopefuly will be a very long time. At least we have a President today who speak’s in complete sentences. Oh yes I knew about the power outages from the main stream media. DOH!!!
While BO is ignoring this, he is giving Gaza $20 million to help rebuild. What is wrong with this picture?
This should be on the front page of every paper and news website in the country!
Well, has Obama been to Kentucky to see the situation? Has he even flown over? Seems to me Bush was criticized because he flew over New Orleans and didn’t land. Then he was criticized in the San Diego fires because he did go there and so “disrupted” the work going on. Do we assume that our agencies can’t operated properly for one year each time there is an administrative change? Ridiculous.
Micehlle, you just don’t get it. Fact is, if a Republican were in office now the standards would be different regardless of what you’re pointing out in terms of his time in office and the personnel. To deny otherwise is silly, given what we saw over the last 8 years. Imagine the headlines: “Bush Keeps Thermostat High While People Freeze”, “Bush To Hold Super Bowl Party, Kentuckians Wonder Where FEMA Is”.
ATLANTA, Ga. — Kentucky’s storm emergency needs continue to be a priority for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is coordinating and delivering federal resources to the commonwealth.
With widespread power outages affecting communications capabilities in Kentucky, FEMA’s Mobile Emergency Response Support units – called MERS – have moved from Thomasville, Ga., and Frederick, Md., to Kentucky. MERS assets include portable radio towers, repeaters and radios; multiple portable KU Band satellite systems and satellite telephones to help officials in areas where cellular towers are inoperative.
FEMA also has deployed its Incident Response Vehicle, technicians, and radio/repeater equipment to construct a radio network capable of providing communications.
“This is an amazing effort and we have worked long hours to move supplies and equipment. Our working partnership with FEMA ensures we are getting excellent help under difficult circumstances for Kentuckians suffering from the winter storm,” said Gen. John W. Heltzel, director of Kentucky’s Division of Emergency Management.
FEMA began moving supplies into the commonwealth Thursday morning. To date, water, meals, cots and blankets, have moved through the national logistics staging area at Fort Campbell to the Commonwealth’s staging areas in Greenville and Paducah. There are no known shortages of commodities at this time.
“We know how rough conditions are when power is out,” said FEMA Regional Administrator Phil May. “We are working to help the state take care of people’s emergency needs.”
FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are working together to provide industrial-size generators needed to power critical facilities. Teams are assessing needs and installing these generators each day.
Other states help through the National Emergency Management Assistance Compact – called EMAC. Mississippi is sending generators to Benton, Ky., to help power shelters housing victims of the storm.
FEMA also is fulfilling the commonwealth’s requests for diesel fuel and unleaded gasoline. Delivery of a total 80,000 gallons began Saturday at commonwealth staging areas in Greenville and Paducah.
Other federal agencies are supporting FEMA as necessary. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has officials in the Kentucky Emergency Operations Center to identify any medical-facility needs.
Under President Obama’s emergency declaration issued Wednesday, FEMA directs other federal agencies and provides 75 percent federal funding for emergency measures for public health and safety in 61 designated counties.
FEMA leads and supports the nation in a risk-based, comprehensive emergency management system of preparedness, protection, response, recovery, and mitigation, to reduce the loss of life and property and protect the nation from all hazards including natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters.
lol repubes grabbing at straws. You lost losers get over it.
Ah the class and tolerance of the left on display once more. Move on.
I’m glad you came over and I hope you come back, CP!
“Can you screen and hire 100’s of people and then have them come into the job ready to go in TEN DAYS?”
Yes Michelle, I can. And I expect everyone, who works under me, to be absolutely ready for the job on his first day. If the person is qualified for the job, then he has to be 100% ready on day one. That’s not only what I expect, that’s what I DEMAND as someone in a leadership position.
You know, maybe that’s the real reason as to why the US economy is going down. You guys are lazy buggers. Day one means 100% readiness. If you’re not willing to do that, GTFO, we’ll find someone who’s willing to do that.
FEMA is a professional unit, similar to our THW (Technisches Hilfswerk, which is usually operating with plenty of volunteers, who are ready for the job within 24 hours, should they be called upon). I expect them to be ready to get their job done on day one. Just like I expect the person in charge to be ready on day one.
But wait… I know, Obama is a politician and a lawyer, thus pretty much someone who isn’t qualified for anything. Of course he’s not ready. After all, he’s a politician and a lawyer, thus really only a professional liar.
Na, you Americans hired a professional liar into the White House. A guy who has no experience in anything other than voting “present”. God, I’m so glad not to be American right now. Your new Messiah is going to turn the “land of unlimited possibilities” (as the US are called here) into a joke.
“President Obama hates white people!”
To the people of Kentucky–do not worry!! The messiah is on his way and he will raise his hands to bring warmer temps to melt all the ice,restore the trees that have fallen,fill all the freezers and fridges with fresh food and hold back any flood waters!! You are probably wondering, “where is global warming when you need it?”. The mental midget Michelle must be mrs. obama. Where is all the change and hope he promised—and we are not willing to wait!! This man walks on water according to liberals and the MSM—-let’s see it!
Well, it certainly seems to me if our President has all that time on his hands to sign multiple “executive orders” within his first 10 days, he could certainly find the time to dispatch assistance to the folks. After all, he is the boss now, regardless of who his underlings are. He has the POWER!!! Exercise that!!
“Can you screen and hire 100’s of people and then have them come into the job ready to go in TEN DAYS?”
Michelle,
Not all of us conservatives are so narrow-minded. I understand it is a slow process, getting all of your appointees into place. First, they have to figure out that darned Turbo Tax software and then go through several previous years of tax returns & find their mistakes…I mean, who knows when they will be ready to work on the American people’s problems, right?
If this was Bush’s fault it would be front page news everywhere. I guess if you are dying it only counts if you are black and in New Orleans.
Now that’s funny.
While BO is ignoring this, he is giving Gaza $20 million to help rebuild. What is wrong with this picture?
This should be on the front page of every paper and news website in the country
Not so funny. What’s wrong with this picture is 8 years in the making. So sorry you don’t realize that.
Seems to me Bush was criticized because he flew over New Orleans and didn’t land.
You are wrong about that. Pictures mean a thousand words. It wasn’t the fly over so mach as the birthday cake, guitar and the slap on the Brownie back. But you probably don’t live on the Gulf Coast or in Kentucky.
Micehlle, you just don’t get it. Fact is, if a Republican were in office now the standards would be different regardless of what you’re pointing out in terms of his time in office and the personnel. To deny otherwise is silly, given what we saw over the last 8 years. Imagine the headlines: “Bush Keeps Thermostat High While People Freeze”, “Bush To Hold Super Bowl Party, Kentuckians Wonder Where FEMA Is”.
Sorry to copy and paste your whole thing, but I couldn’t help myself. You must know that people like Jimmie blamed Clinton for 9/11, right? And there was a movie on broadcast teevee about it, right? Perhaps you only watch TMZ.
Ah the class and tolerance of the left on display once more. Move on.
Yes, I find it odd that you post this comment immediately after someone disproves your point. You must be . . . .
Jimmie, seriously. You saw this as a wedge and ran with it. When you were proven wrong, you dug in. What is left to say except:
Badger, what you forget in your wagging on is that a lot of the positions have to be confirmed. Don’t you know anything about how your government works. Perhaps you are new to all of this. The government is not a business. If it were, we would have never gone into either Iraq or Afghanistan.
I’ll leave off there. Cheesecake for another day.
Three day’s before Katrina hit FEMA started moving emergency supplies into the Superdome in New Orleans and putting other supplies in other locations. Katrina hit NO and FEMA had to wait for the Dem Gov to request their aid – the request must go from local to state then to Federal.
FEMA had given New Orleans $875,000 for an emergency plan – Instead of doing what they were supposed to do they used the money on a bridge. When the crunch came the Mayor of NO told the city ‘you are on your own’.
Northern Arkansan’s are in a bad way and having a dumbass Democrat Gov is not helping things. The Gov is too busy trying to increase taxes than to worry about a bunch of loosely populated counties being in the dark.
Power companies in Arkansas have a massive job ahead of them – in some of the counties ALL telephone poles are either snapped in half or have the top snapped off. There are reports of massive damage to substations. I’m talking about upwards of 100,000 poles that need to be replaced in Arkansas alone. Some of the CO=OP’s keep 50 or so poles in reserve.
The PIMP is dragging his feet on this one. Obama’s Homeland Security is failing it’s job; but then Barrack Hussein Obama doesn’t care about ‘A little bit of ice’.
Well…getting people to eg support $400 million to ‘combat global warming’ is a bit difficult when ppl are freezing to death, so perhaps the Obama media just don’t want to acknowledge it enough. And of course ‘The Black House’ perhaps just doesn’t like all those ‘clingy, bitter, white people’ that voted for the guy with the correct resume.
BTW, didn’t Obama promise the oceans would stop to rise if he was elected? So far they seem to be still rising, and it’s been almost three months since his election. Just saying.
Obama Bought The Presidency
[...] why is it that there has been no outcry over the lack of aid to Kentucky which is majority white population yet such a fuss was made over New Orleans and hurricane Katrina [...]