The more I read about the situation along the Gulf the more incensed I get. There’s the rampant cronyism that caused mind-bogglingly unqualified people into positions of power; there’s the criminally slow response of our federal “first responders”; and now there’s this article, which suggests once FEMA finally got its hands on resources, it squandered them.Seriously…can these assholes do anything right?
From today’s Salt Lake Tribune (by way of Talking Points Memo):
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.
Federal officials are unapologetic.
“I would go back and ask the firefighter to revisit his commitment to FEMA, to firefighting and to the citizens of this country,” said FEMA spokeswoman Mary Hudak.
[…A]s specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew’s first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas.
Great. Wonderful. I’m glad the White House has no problem letting people die so Bush can smile for the camera. It’s too bad FEMA is so busy enabling the President’s playtime; we could use some first responders to help protect us from his unending flood of bullshit.
