Free Republic

It sounds like someone may have jumped the gun and over reacted.

http://veterans.house.gov/news/109/11-8-05.html

PRESS RELEASE - Tuesday November 08, 2005

Chairman Buyer holds Veterans Summit announcing new hearing schedule

Hearing reform gives veterans’ groups a greater voice

Washington, DC – House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Steve Buyer (R-Ind.), announced that he will hold full committee hearings starting in February during which veterans’ groups can present their priorities and offer guidance earlier in the budget process. Calling on veterans’ groups to play a more influential role in developing the annual Department of Veterans Affairs budget, Buyer presented his plan to engage them early in the annual budget process.

Chairman Buyer discussed veterans issues with leaders of national veterans’ service organizations and military associations at the Army War College, located at the Carlisle Barracks, Pa. Participants also included Economic Opportunity Subcommittee Chairman John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Health Subcommittee Chairman Henry Brown (R-S.C.).

“Moving these hearings forward will bring more accountability to the budget process and ensure that veterans have greater input in the process,” Buyer said.

After a discussion of the 2006 schedule, Chairman Buyer recommended moving the testimony earlier in the legislative process. The recommendation was received favorably by those in attendance. As a result, he has made the decision to move the veterans and military organizations testimony early in February.

“Now, veterans organizations are more relevant and material to the budget fight,” he told those in attendance.

In past years, VSOs have come to Capitol Hill to offer their views in joint hearings of both the House and Senate Veterans Committees. The impact of these hearings has been limited because they have occurred weeks after Congress developed its “views and estimates” response to the President’s budget request, which it does by March each year.

Under the new schedule, the VSOs will be asked to present their views on the budget and their legislative priorities in early February at the same time the President sends his budget to Capitol Hill. In addition, the VSOs will also be asked to testify in February at a series of full committee and subcommittee hearings on a variety of legislative proposals directly affecting veterans.

Complementing Chairman Buyer’s decision, retired Air Force Command Master Sgt. Mark Olanoff, Executive Director of The Retired Enlisted Association’s Washington, DC, office, referring to the old process, said “I came in with TREA's President after the views and estimates were already done. We should be in at the beginning. This is good.”

I saw these losers at my regular gas station (Exxon Mobile) on Rt 1 right off 95 Exit 161 in Woodbridge this morning. I was in a hurry since I was on my way to work and wanted to fill up before the prices went up again today so I didn't have time to engage in dialogue with them. However, I did make sure that I drove past their camper so they could see my Bush/Cheney tire cover on the back of my Jeep.

The author seems to have confused the details of Susan Torres' (the mother) condition. The article starts by saying she was involved in a car accident, although further down he states (correctly) that she died from complications of melanoma.

My apologies in advance if this was already posted--searched and didn't find it--comment from Rick Lowry at The Corner:

Was just talking to someone who knows military matters and disaster relief, and has been following the situation on the Gulf Coast very closely. Several points (excuse the repetitions):

--“The mayor and the governor are negligent and incompetent. The administration has tried to smooth out the chain of command, but she won't do it. The constitution says that the governor is in charge of the Guard.” (The Washington Post wrote about this on Saturday--and KJL excerpted the relevant bit in here.)

--“None of those poor people were moved prior to the storm. They were told to go to the Superdome, but they had to walk there. Whose responsibility is that?”

-- “General Honore in one day got 20,000 people evacuated from the convention center with a ground and air evacuation. Have you heard about that in the media?”

--“The DoD has been tasked with 40-50 missions here. DoD is the go-to organization for DHS. DHS is trying to build the capacity, but doesn't have it yet. DHS is all brain power and no brawn.”

--“Michael Brown has not done a good job and is in over his head. But, in fairness, FEMA is not organized to handle a catastrophe of this size.”

--“There will be 50k troops there by mid-week, a combination of active duty and National Guard. Including elements of 82nd Airborne Division, First Cavalry Division, and two Marine brigades. That's in just over a week. That's amazing. But no one realizes it. They had to trot General Honore out this morning to try to explain to the media how you move troops. There were National Guard pre-positioned in the north part of Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana two days the storm, watching the storm, seeing which way it was going to go, and once the storm hit, moving troops in immediately. There was a flow-plan that's been working since.”

--“The constitution says the governor is in charge of the Guard. The president would have to invoke the Insurrection Act to over-ride that. No president has done that since the Civil War. And he would have to do it over the head of the governor. Bush is not there yet.”

--“The military is there anyway on the principle: 'It's better to beg forgiveness than ask permission.' Federal troops can't do law enforcement. So they are being creative. National Guard will embed in active military units and be there to make actual arrests. That's very similar to what has been done in past hurricanes and the Coast Guard has done the same thing with the Navy in the past.”

--“There are no law enforcement problems in Mississippi. They have been acting there with the cooperation of the governor. In New Orleans, they don't have the same kind of cooperation from the governor or the mayor. It's not as stream-lined or as effective as it could be.”

--“The New Orleans police disintegrated. The national response plan calls for state and local to be the first on the scene. But the catastrophe wiped out the whole local infrastructure and the emergency communications. 80% of the police disintegrated and they are just not beginning to re-constitute.”

Thanks. It's good to be among FRiends!

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a16dcaf6627.htm

That's old news--sometimes referred to as the parking space incident.

I've seen LTG Honore in action before and I was thinking he was a bit subdued while he was being interviewed the last few days. It was good to seem more like his regular self today!