Free Republic

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida’s Disaster Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday began Friday, days before the start of the Atlantic hurricane season, and lasts through June 6. Items that will be exempt from sales tax include flashlights, generators and batteries. However, qualifying items will not be exempted from sales tax if purchased at a theme park, entertainment complex, public lodging establishment or airport. The rental or repair of any qualifying items will also not be exempted from sales tax

Republican lawmakers are criticizing a new policy at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that forces states to acknowledge climate change in order to receive some federal disaster funds. The policy, set to take effect next March, requires state governors to address the role of climate change in their disaster-mitigation plans in order to qualify for federal disaster-preparedness grant money. A group of Republican senators are questioning the change in a letter to FEMA Director Craig Fugate, arguing that the new policy will complicate the bureaucratic process of applying for mitigation assistance and force state leaders to adopt an ideological...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53628 Disaster Preparedness Exercise Trains 500 Guardsmen in Puerto Rico By Army Staff Sgt. S. Patrick McCollum Special to American Forces Press Service PONCE, Puerto Rico, March 25, 2009 – An underwater earthquake triggers a tsunami as a terrorist cell is discovered producing dangerous chemicals. If there was a time to call the National Guard, this is it. Fortunately, these scenarios are only a simulation at Vigilant Guard 2009, an exercise under way here that tests the capabilities of more than 500 Guard members from five states and territories to handle disasters and...

Booming preparedness industry says Americans are stockpiling To some, the term "survivalist" conjures images of camouflage-clad men stockpiling freeze-dried food in a mountain cabin, but in the current economic crisis, the people quietly preparing to survive catastrophe may just be your next-door neighbors. In his column in last month's Financial Times, business and technology expert Ade McCormack writes, "The world is in crisis and with it the world of business. Many of us have two plans. Plan A involves President Barack Obama performing some economic magic. Plan B involves a revolver, a vegetable patch and a subscription to Survivalist Monthly."...

Yahoo ran an interesting article this morning indicating a rise in the number of survivalist communities cropping up around the country. I have been wondering myself how much of the recent energy crisis is causing people to do things like stockpile food and water, grow their own vegetables, etc. Could it be that there are many people out there stockpiling and their increased buying has caused food prices to increase? It’s an interesting theory, but I believe increased food prices have more to do with rising fuel prices as cost-to-market costs have increased and grocers are simply passing those increases...

VIDEO: "Disaster Preparedness From Ready.gov" VIDEO DESCRIPTION - Snippet: "Three steps on how to prepare for an emergency or disaster."

Highways to Hell Investing in our safety. By Wendell Cox New Orleans and Houston have raised serious questions about the nation's ability to evacuate effectively major urban areas in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack. The more recent Houston evacuation is rightly viewed as the more successful, as 2.5 million people managed to get out of the area by car. Things could have been better. In the future, freeways need to be made one-way much earlier, and there should be preexisting fuel-contingency plans. The biggest tragedy was in New Orleans where many households were without cars, and...

Images from the stricken city of New Orleans show that many of those suffering in its streets and shelters are mainly black and poor. The plight of those stranded amid the filth and the dead has highlighted a side of the city most tourists did not see - one in which two-thirds of its residents are black and more than a quarter live in poverty. Anger is mounting among African-American leaders that this section was left behind when others fled. Some say the chaos in Katrina's aftermath has exposed deep divisions in both the city and US society. "We cannot...

Strong criticism of the response to hurricane Katrina is leading to suggestions by some lawmakers that the primary U.S. government agency responsible for handling emergencies should be separated from the large Department of Homeland Security created after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. When the huge Department of Homeland Security was created in the wake of the unprecedented 2001 terrorist attacks, what had been the autonomous Federal Emergency Management Agency was included in the massive reorganization. FEMA was not without its problems, but the hope was that America's ability to respond to emergencies would be improved. In addition, most of...

How many FReepers feel they would be ready for a blackout right NOW? What do you do that makes you feel like you are or are not? How about personal safety.