Posted on 10/30/2012 6:11:23 AM PDT by Zakeet
Most Americans have never heard of the National Response Coordination Center, but theyre lucky it exists on days of lethal winds and flood tides. The center is the war room of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, where officials gather to decide where rescuers should go, where drinking water should be shipped, and how to assist hospitals that have to evacuate.
Disaster coordination is one of the most vital functions of big government, which is why Mitt Romney wants to eliminate it. At a Republican primary debate last year, Mr. Romney was asked whether emergency management was a function that should be returned to the states. He not only agreed, he went further.
Absolutely, he said. Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, thats the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, thats even better. Mr. Romney not only believes that states acting independently can handle the response to a vast East Coast storm better than Washington, but that profit-making companies can do an even better job. He said it was immoral for the federal government to do all these things if it means increasing the debt.
Its an absurd notion, but its fully in line with decades of Republican resistance to federal emergency planning.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
You right wing nuts made the storm much worse because you're stingy!
no...it doesn't NYT
A big storm requires *efficient* government.
Odungo has to respond to his base (NYC)....
Is this an actually news article?
Absolutely unbelievable that NYT deems fit to run a political attack story while its residents are still fighting floods, fires, and untold danger at the moment.
What a bunch of pansy assed political HACKS!!!
A big storm requires *efficient* and *flexible* government.
Big Government is neither.
LOL!
I’m imagining NY city waiting for the UN to fix their flooded subways.
The bigger the better right NYTimes ?
I wonder if Axelrod is on the NYT payroll, or if he writes these press releases gratis.
Well I guess this locks up NJ, Maryland, NY and Deleware for Obama..oh wait.....Sorry NYT, your guy is toast, nothing you can do to save him, Next Tuesday we won’t have seen a black guy beaten this badly since Levar Burton back in 1977.
The fundamental fallacy of this argument lays in the assumption that such functions couldn’t be equally or better provided to society via non-government entities.
I noticed NYT has closed the comment for the article. A big storm does NOT require a big gov’t,,it requires a flexible and well-oiled machine, lean and responsive. Can’t at least one lib think outside the bun for awhile?
"I'll always have al Qaeda and the New York Times."
FEMA should be eliminated.
Disaster preparedness done by states suffers because big brother is always there.
Disaster relief ends up going to certain states disproportionately. It is not the obligation of Idaho to pay for hurricane damage in Florida, or Virginia, where I live.
States could purchase insurance to cover some needs, and have a rainy day fund for others.
And the BEST reason:
FEMA is a mechanism by which any administration can buy votes and power. I watched this morning as Chris Christie had to effusively praise President Obama’s “handling” of New Jersey’s plight. Christie had to do this, or risk ticking off big bro.
Big bro is a vindictive sort, and Chris Christie knows it.
The fact that the feds are supposed to come in and help was the reason the left was able to bludgeon Bush with his response to Katrina, also.
Cornered, densely populated 'rat mazes need plenty of direct supervision.
Any idiot can throw money at a disaster.
Hoping that the NY Slimes offices and operations are under about ten feet of water.
I expected this....later this week. Pretty irresponsible for the NYTimes to run an article like this today. When the damage is still ongoing. NY City is flooded. Fires. No power.
The fact that they are running it so early tells you Obama is in real trouble. And this is a story that was “pushed” to the NY Times by the Obama campaign. I heard the FEMA director this morning say 5-6 times, extraordinary steps that this president has already taken. A financial crisis helped to elect Obama and they are going to try and use a natural one to get him reelected.
No, it merely requires an intelligent citizenry, an economy strong enough to endure these events, and competent local authorities.
No savior from Washington DC required.
So they like bigger, more powerful government....... I wonder what happens when a Republican is elected and in charge.
Will they still be fantasizing about a bigger government?
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