Posted on 10/18/2008 10:41:30 AM PDT by GOP_Thug_Mom
I'm going on my own personal rant against FEMA here. Flame if you want--you don't know the bad stuff they've done here in Galveston-Houston.
I admit that only one account is first-hand; the rest are from a close friend who works for the county and has been dealing with Hurricane Ike recovery since September 13.
My simple and personal experience comes from volunteering at a POD one day with my children. People were coming in for ice (understandable), MRE's (meant for our troops, IMO), and water. While we were loading nice, expensive cars with these items, it wasn't hard to notice the case of Shiner Bock on the floorboard of the back seat, the laptop and the latest cell phone laying in the seat, etc. These were obviously people taking advantage of the Gubment's generosity with our tax money. The National Guardsman in charge even asked me at one point, "Do you think this is really necessary?" To which I answered, "NO--except the ice".
The following come from my friend. First incident surrounds a sheriff in a neighboring county that requested a generator from FEMA after the Hurricane. Before Fema arrived, he obtained one somewhere else. In the mean time, FEMA showed up with a generator for him. He thank him but said, "No thanks", because he already had one. The FEMA rep said he had to take it because he'd requested it. this went back and forth a bit until the FEMA rep finally threatened with, "I can declare Martial Law and force you take this." To which the sheriff answered something to the effect of, "Me and my men have real bullets, and I have a real jail. You go ahead and do what you think you have to." This was enough to get the FEMA rep to leave.
This same friend who was down in Galveston working, witnessed at least one group of "FEMA volunteers" who came down from another state to help. However, they played catch most of the day and lounged around, while their boats sat on the trailers. They left the next day (I guess they were there long enough to get their FEMA money), and another group came in.
The latest outrage that drove me to post this follows. I just talked to that friend again about my learning Jamaica Beach was needing help and that FEMA never went there. He said he knew that a lot of people were upset because FEMA took whatever they thought they needed--hotwired cars, firetrucks from volunteer departments, etc. Black helecopters made their way down there and did all this. I learned that our own Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale was running a USO mobile canteen in Jamaica Beach without any gub'ment help and volunteers are needed. I thought I heard he's donated $32m towards the effort, not to mention working himself on cleanup.
I plan to go down there Tuesday and help. I also want to see what's going on myself and do my own investigating.
May have to get used to it on a massive scale, even without a storm.
I can’t wait until The Messiah is in charge of FEMA. But then again, I really like scary movies, too.
The only good thing about this is it demonstrates how ineffectual the feds are. Shouldn’t be much of a problem to take care of business if and when the need arises (if you get my drift).
After the Northridge Earthquake in 1994 FEMA passed out checks by zip code, not need.
Black helicopters? Are yu wearing your tin foil hat to protect yourself from their mind control machines. They brought them in by the truckloads instead of bulldozers.
Seriously, I’m a Ike evacuee from a Clear Lake condo that may never be rebuilt. I’ve had to wade through the Fema bureaucracy to get help—but some of it was caused by my own mistakes in filling out their assistance app. I think their apps could stand some tinkering and helpful comments about how to fill them out. On the insurance question, I put down that I had insurance, thinking about the insurance on the condo buildings but not about the lack of insurance on my own condo unit and personal property.
I found the FEMA people on the ground to be very helpful and sympathetic but perhaps it was because I made an effort to be charming and praised them for their efforts. I find that often works with bureaucrats. The only problems I had were caused by the FEMA folks who I couldn’t personally interface with who were simply looking at their files on line from an office somewhere. The folks at the local FEMA centers took up my problems and tried to work them out.
I can’t speak for pushy/lazy FEMA people, but as to your first case, even people with nice cars and laptops are in the same boat as anyone else when the power goes out. And the nicer my stuff the more inclined I’d be to hang around to protect it.
All the rest is unreliable gossip. Uncharitable too.
Good luck on going down there and helping. Look around too. If you find firsthand valid abuses document them. But stories second and third hand are just that. Like the Katrina stories of the Superdome. They later turned out to be so much garbage.
What they are doing is typical government behaviour.
While not anti-contitutional it is stupid.
And yes these are te same people who would be running the health care system.
"I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."
Why is this noteworthy?
Over 90% of Federal programs are anti-constitutional, why pick on just one?
My husband's company had no power, but his boss got a generator--as did most--to get some work done. Thus, he only missed one day at the steel company he works for near the Ship Channel.
Even though I was accused of gossiping (although how can you tell anyone anything without it being mostly secondhand?), here's some more in order to give FEMA some credit: my friend's brother, who's in the fire department in Baytown (the whole town was evacuated) said that FEMA seemed to be doing a fairly good job there so far.
I did also forget to mention a news story from the county next to us that received all the debris from Crystal Beach and Bolivar Pennisula that washed up. After finding one person alive in the rubble and 2 dead bodies, FEMA refused to help the sheriff search that rubble. There was an article on the local news that on some days, only 3 people in the sheriff's department were going through it. I called it help, but learned that tv coverage got a couple other counties to help them.
How does holding the government in contempt make me lose all credibility? or are you someone with no sense of humor? :)
Next, did the people with the nice car lose their nice house?
Actually, this was going on about 3 miles from my house. We lost power--NO one lost a house. Across the street, the Dominoes Pizza was open, and a few blocks down, Kroger was open. That's where they must have picked up their beer.
I don't think the government is in the realm of deserving to be free of being "gossiped" about, and as I am not omnipotent, I only repeat very trusted sources--the one I used is a very scrupulous new convert to the Catholic Faith who works with the Office of Emergency Management, Mr. "Irish Catholic". :)
I know they didn't bring bulldozers (grrr...) but you're teasing about the black helicopters "by the truckloads", right?
I heard they tore a walmart roof off and stuffed the shell with black helicopters.
The feds draft people from all sorts of other agencies to fill the ranks of FEMA. They seldom get the same people twice. Even when they get someone competent, that person is surrounded with incompetents so they are effectively neutralized. Contrast that with your average guy. Take me for an example. I have worked at every level of law enforcement. I have a pretty good handle on the capabilities of all. Most local law enforcement folks are just as worried about a fed takeover as you and me. They aren't about to let that happen. Martial law? Even if the entire military, trigger pullers, clerks and jerks, military police, truck drivers, etc, were to be teld to enforce martial law, we would outnumber them by hundreds to one. Then you have the fact that according to the latest survey, the military is on our side by 3 to 1, and you have conditions where they would not use force against the American people. The threat of martial law is bogus. Perhaps FEMA could take over a city, even a big one, but the federal government is far too incompetent to take over the country. Besides, We Won't Let Them. -if you get my drift.
I suspect there will be a good deal of civil disorder in the cities. If you live there, consider getting out before 11/04. If you can't get out, be prepared to ride it out and to defend yourself and your loved ones. The good guys will win this one.
Am I worried about BHO? Of course, but again, he can only become dictator if we let him. Many, like me are committed to preventing that from happening. (OK, I probably just made his enemies list). But I don't care. I'll die on my feet, not on my knees.
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