California Fires and Nuttalls

[ElfDude]

Take a look at what happened in New Orleans with Katrina's
late response etc; etc; etc... and now in San Diego they are serving gourmet meals and have massage tables set up to relieve stress

You mention the late response in Katrina. The federal government hasn't really done much in CA yet either. The locals are providing the buffets, etc.

In any case, I would suggest that drawing comparisons to this fire and floods in New Orleans isn't going to work very well. The events are extrememly different. San Diego still has clear roads, electricity, running water, communications, etc.

I'm not trying to minimize the suffering of anyone hurt by this tragedy in CA. Just pointing out that it's not the same thing as a city underwater, sayin'?

[LisaBug2112]

My Grandparents live in Carlsbad, they have a fire 5 miles away from them. They cannot open any windows etc. their house is covered in ash. have not heard from my uncle or cousin yet, they live in Oceanside. The camp area we stayed at there last year is in bid danger. There is a nuclear power plant there to.

[Wendy]

Obviously another disaster in which the Federal gov. will be slow to respond to people in need. It happened with hurricane Andrew 1992, Katrina, and
countless other tragedy's in which they dragged their heels until the first responders, private sector and private citizens pitched in and picked up the pieces.

I am continually disgusted with the current administration.

I think the best way to help without physically being there
is to make a donation to the Red Cross
for people's aid and SPCA for animal's aid.

[ElfDude]

It looks like things (evacuations, shelter and food for the victims, etc.) are being handled exactly as they should be handled.

As Arnold said...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWkgSk6rDUs

Other than the fire itself, it's "all good news".

[awip2062]

Isn't it only right that the locals are the ones who start? Isn't it required to go from city to county to state governments and only then to the feds?

Except for the national park and forest lands, of course.

[awip2062]

I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner, but I just checked onwhere I grew up by using Google Earth. I knew the people there were okay, but still it is reaffirming to "see" all as usual.

Question, though: how often does Google Earth update?

[Big Blue Owl]

I Googled my part of Earth and it looks like an image from 10 years ago, before I bought my house. It'd be cool if they updated often, but that would mean constant overhead photography, etc. "Not gonna do it."

Yes, it's all good news according to FEMA;

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The White House scolded the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Friday for staging a phony news conference about assistance to victims of wildfires in southern California.

The agency ? much maligned for its sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina over two years ago ? arranged to have FEMA employees play the part of independent reporters Tuesday and ask questions of Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the agency's deputy director.

The questions were predictably soft and gratuitous.

"I'm very happy with FEMA's response," Johnson said in reply to one query from an agency employee.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said it was not appropriate that the questions were posed by agency staffers instead of reporters. FEMA was responsible for the "error in judgment," she said, adding that the White House did not know about it beforehand and did not condone it.

FEMA gave real reporters only 15 minutes notice about Tuesday's news conference . But because there was so little advance notice, the agency made available an 800 number so reporters could call in.

And many did, although it was a listen-only arrangement.

On Thursday, FEMA employees had played the part of reporters. Johnson issued a statement Friday, saying that FEMA's goal was "to get information out as soon as possible, and in trying to do so we made an error in judgment."

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It's becoming more and more like a sit-com. Things are being done that you just can't imagine clear thinking, honest people would do. And in such brash fashion that the writers of said sit-com would be fired for ridiculous plots and obvious, elaborate, transparent idiocy.

[ElfDude]

LOL!!!

Yeah, I read about the phony news conference. How embarrassing! And what a goofy thing to do in the first place.

Again, why do people look to FEMA when they have never been a first response organization? They're the ones who go in afterwards, survey the damage, and write the check (kind of like insurance adjustors). And if you're into conspiracy theories, they are something much more insidious. But we wopn't go there.

[Walkinghairball]

F E M A

Fixin
Everybody
Missing
All

[ElfDude]

The official word:

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) - Officials blamed a wildfire that consumed more than 38,000 acres and destroyed 21 homes last week on a boy playing with matches, and said they would ask a prosecutor to consider the case.

The boy, whose name and age were not released, admitted to sparking the fire on Oct. 21, Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Diane Hecht said Tuesday. Ferocious winds helped it quickly spread.

"He admitted to playing with matches and accidentally starting the fire," Hecht said in a statement.

I'd heard a lot of arson conspiracy theories ranging from al-Qaeda to Blackwater. Living in an area where we have big fires every summer, I'm not at all surprised that it turned out to be a kid. The most common causes around here are lightning, kids with fireworks, and careless campers. Kinda figures it'd be the same elsewhere.

I also learned something else new just the other day (I probably should have learned this a long time ago, but we all know how well history is taught in public schools ). I was told that in the past, the federal government had only minor dealings with natural dissasters. States and locals handled them for the most part. The first president to send in the feds was Herbert Hoover. And the majority of the nation responded with outrage. "We can take care of ourselves! Keep your nose out of our business!" I'm troubled that we have changed from such an independent spirit to so many having the desire for a nanny government that is supposed to solve all of our problems for us.

Am I the only one who views that as a turn for the worse?

[CygnusX1]

I don't care WHAT role FEMA has in it, they scraped the bottom of
the barrel with the phony news conference. Shameful.

You trim a tree form the top down, so Chertoff should be the fist
to get the boot. He should be ashemed.

You would have thought they would have learned a lesson after
Katrina, but obviously not.

Subversion and debauchery are rampant, and I have one question for
ya:

WHO'S LOOKING OUT FOR YOU???

Look at my avi. It's a start. Read the book.

[Big Blue Owl]

When it's something we (as states and locals) cannot combat, it would be good to know that the government can organize large-scale assistance, but yeah, other than that, it gets weird (if not un-American) to depend on the "Filth" to change our diapers in exchange for our privacies and freedoms.

Cyg, I wouldn't waste my time reading O'Reilly even if all the other literature on the planet suddenly disappeared. I tried it once and my brain kicked my ass for hours

[Walkinghairball]

I don't like Bill too much, he freaks me out.

[CygnusX1]

I wouldn't waste my time reading O'Reilly even if all the other literature on the planet suddenly disappeared. I tried it once and my brain kicked my ass for hours

That was funny, but we all know the truth hurts.

I don't agree with everything he says myself, but he makes valid
points. Bottom line: Can you answer the question?

The answer should not surprise you.

[Mr. Potatoe Head]

Now they are dealing with a rumbling earth wanting to do the time warp again That would be a earth quake