Yeah, he and Obama worked pretty well together on the disaster, meanwhile that other guy was down in Florida passing out "stewed prunes" to the senior citizens. Gov. Christie took some heat from Rush Limbaugh for the way he's been praising Obama's leadership. Christie vs Limbaugh is a Sumo wrestling match I'd pay to see. I'm sure "The Donald" would promote it.

Limbaugh also told dittoheads that NYC Mayor Bloomberg endorsed Romney. However, this afternoon the former Republican, but now Independent Mayor Bloomberg endorsed President Obama's reelection bid. That's big...

The photo ops are the easy part! Now comes the hard part which is actually getting these folks gas, power and food. And I wish them both the best for that.

But of course, for the partisans, the photo ops are really the only important thing here

And then early next year us taxpayers can rebuild these millionaires 2nd homes.

And then bail out the insurance company's.

And then stop funding FEMA because we are going broke.

And god forbid we ever invest in our infrastructure to avoid future disasters! That would ruin future photo ops

Gotta love America

I heard talk this morning on MSNBC about building surge ways ala the Netherlands. Would that mean no more beach front houses?

I wonder, if a poll were taken, how many days food supply the average American keeps on hand ?
A week ?

Perhaps it would be a good idea to load up considering the winter we could likely get. I dont normally fill the tank but its probably a good idea to fill up and keep it at least half full or rotate a couple 5 gallon cans of fuel, or just backup. Takes forever to pump it out of the boat.

A week?
I have a few months on shelves.... And some still alive out in the pastures....
I dont keep more then 55 gallons of gas on hand... And I have 6 - 7 gallon propane tanks full...

"And some still alive out in the pastures...."

Good idea Timber - I better not chase the possum out of the bushes around my home. It might come in handy if we're needing some grub.

Thanks for thr recipes! I like the ingrediants in the possum pot pie:
"3 shots gin or moonshine"

"1 possum ---if roadkill: make jambalaya"

Probably don't have to cook it as long since usually roadkill has already been 'grilled'.

and tenderized.

and how many of the "self-sufficient" with gardens and stored goods would be any better off after 12 ft of saltwater takes it all away.

[Bleeeeep!] "i got mine" and "blame the victims" [Bleeeeep!] gets old quick.

Not everyone makes the decision to lay down in a floodplain and call it home. IF 12' of saltwater can get over your home, you need to reconsider your CHOICE of "home" !

not all disasters happen in floodplains.

when the tsunami hits there will be loads of people impacted not living in "floodplains"

fires, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, massive storms, etc all can happen here. it is great to be as prepared as possible, but thinking you are prepared enough to say that the federal government shouldn't help in disasters misses the fact that sometimes events and disasters cannot be predicted and circumstances can screw up any amount of pre-planning.

There are some catastrophe-prone areas that should not be continually supported by others.....we all know that. Building below sea level next to the sea is a perfect example.....also building next to low lying shorelands. People who choose to live there should be liable and suffer their own consequences rather than rely on others to bail them out, don't you think?

What about when the next big earthquake hits your part of town, Hank? Gonna refuse any help or money that comes thru FEMA if your place of work, home, or anything else is utterly destroyed?

Fish on...

Todd

Something tells me that it won't be waste if it helps you and yours, no matter how wasteful it might look to someone else...I doubt all the folks without power and food find anything that helps to be wasteful.

Fish on...

Todd

Of course they can...everything can always be done with more efficiency and less waste, and nothing like this is ever done without messing parts up...it's a pretty big disaster.

Just think if the Ryan/Romney plan of abolishing FEMA and letting the states fumble with it were in operation now...it would be a fuckin disaster piled on top of a fuckin disaster.

Fish on...

Todd

P.S. Don't bother showing me the Romney quote where he flip flopped on FEMA two days ago, and now congratulates them and would fully fund their mission...he's a waste of air every time he talks.

Hank,

Anything short of abolishing FEMA (or any other federal agency) assures the continuation of waste. One constituent's waste is another constituent's sacred cow. It's part of pluralism. i.e., the part of FEMA that protects a fancy schmancy mcmansion (that shouldn't be built on the beach in the first place) of an east coast one percenter is obviously federal waste. The FEMA relief that comes to your aid after the next SF quake is your sacred cow.

Every federal agency could be run more efficiently by just about anybody's point of view. It just depends on whose ox you want to gore and which ox you want to save.

Sg

Am I hearing that waste is a natural consequence of the federal government being involved so no need to make FEMA more efficient?

Hank, are you saying FEMA should be a pass-thru agency, just sending relief funds where they are needed, and let the states decide how to allocate the money?

I'm not sure how to avoid the conflict between agencies. FEMA and the Corps are notorious when it comes to bundling actions under the umbrella of "emergency response" and in the process of responding to a variety of response actions that are considerably less than life or death situation, they authorize and fund actions that destroy the holy livin' schit out of fish and wildlife habitat, for instance. So you can take efficiency on the one hand, and give one agency "authority in charge" status, and damage or destroy other public property and investments in the process of emergency response, both real and contrived. Then later, more public funds are needed to undo some of the damage caused by allowing one "super-agency" decide how to respond. Or you can let the bureaucracies sort out the mess, with less efficiency in the near term, and maybe address the crisis immediately and avoid incurring future costs due to ill-advised responses. Each agency's area of expertise tends to be very narrow.

I still think doing as you propose will result in goring one constituent's ox while you're protecting another's sacred cow. That is pluralism, and the only effective alternative I know of is single-purpose dictatorship.

Sg

JG,

Any agency or company can be more efficient. I guess I'm saying that you could take an econ supply-demand curve and substitute efficiency and output effectiveness. You cannot maximize one value without diminishing the other, so a prudent manager seeks to optimize the competing values.

And yes, FEMA for sure could be more efficient and effective based on my personal biases toward the values of what is deserving (and in the national interest) of protecting. But again, pluralism, by definition, means that equally good Americans will disagree about those priorities.

If it were up to me, I would dispense humanitarian relief (food, water, shelter) to people who suffered losses on the barrier islands. But I wouldn't provide one cent of relief toward rebuilding on the barrier islands. Students of nature and ecology know that barrier islands naturally serve as protective buffers of environmentally rich coastlines. Other folks see barrier islands as a perfect location for a beach cabin, home, or mcmansion, depending on their economic status. Then they think it is in the public interest to develop levees, dikes, roads, and other public services on those islands. Meanwhile, the ecologist knows that change is the very nature of barrier islands, and the change is caused by storms. Sorry to get lengthy, but maybe illustrating by example increases understanding. If you're really interested in the impossibility faced by FEMA and the Corps, I highly recommend this book: The Control of Nature by John McPhee.

FEMA's mission doesn't include making sense. I think that contributes to why there is so much conflict about the intrinsic inefficiency at FEMA. As far as the "waste" goes, I'm just trying to explain that what you might see as FEMA waste is another citizen's sacred cow.

Sg