Random thoughts and pieces

Hey, this came out last year. Interesting:

Former head says FEMA has been 'destroyed'
Columbian (Vancouver, WA), p C.3 05-23-2004
By CHARLES E BEGGS

PORTLAND - Former Federal Emergency Management Agency director James Lee Witt said Saturday the disaster relief agency has been "destroyed" by its absorption into the Department of Homeland Security.

Witt, who served in the Clinton administration, said morale has suffered enough that senior officials have quit and the agency has little or no day-to-day contact with its regional offices around the country.

"Now it's buried down into the bottom of a huge bureaucracy," Witt told a Democratic Party policy drafting panel in Portland.

Speakers said while it's apparent that security has been stepped up at airports, little has been done to help ports and rail carriers protect against or respond to terror attacks.

Witt said he advised the Bush administration to leave the emergency management agency as an independent Cabinet-level entity reporting to the president.

"It did not need to be fixed," Witt said.

The hearing on homeland security of the platform drafting panel of the Democratic National Committee was the first of four such meetings planned around the country.

It was a forum for criticism that the Republican president has talked a good game on homeland protection but not backed it up with money.

"We all know that the Bush administration is failing on its watch," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., chairwoman of the platform panel. "Homeland security has been woefully underfunded."

Molly Bordonaro of Portland, regional chairwoman for the Bush campaign, responded with a statement Saturday saying presumed Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry voted six times against creating the new federal department.

"Kerry's flawed understanding of the war on terror places politics above our national security," Bordanaro said.

Earlier Saturday, at a meeting at a Port of Portland cargo terminal, the panel was told of gradual security improvements at the busy West Coast port.

Sam Ruda, the port's marine director, said emerging technology will make it easier to check if container seals have been tampered with and for radiation emanating from a container that might hold a nuclear device.

But he said he doesn't know how agencies would coordinate responses to such a threat.

"If we find radiation, who does what? There are no clear processes," he said.

Columbian Publishing Company May 23, 2004

we're only going to find more and more items like this in the days ahead. Nothing like a reality-based bucket of polluted floodwater in the face to bring people to their senses.

BTW, how do you suppose little Kenny Mehlman's campaign to win over the AA vote is going?

What a difference a year and a presidential election makes;

From CNN:

Michael Brown is the FEMA director. He's here in Florida. I talked to him a few moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: What's your priority today?

MICHAEL BROWN, FEMA DIRECTOR: Bill, it's to focus on life- sustaining and life-saving efforts. At 5:45 this morning, the first trucks started rolling down the interstate trying to get into these areas of devastation. We're bringing in food, water, all of the equipment, including the medical teams and the urban search-and-rescue teams to have a massive response to Frances.

HEMMER: And what part of Florida needs the most help this morning, Mr. Brown?

BROWN: Well, Governor Bush and I were able finally late yesterday afternoon to get into the West Palm Beach airport. So, this morning, he and I are going to start working our way back up along the coast and then back inland and back toward Tallahassee. Because even as you and I are speaking, the storm is still wreaking havoc on now the coastal areas on the Gulf side and up in the Panhandle of Florida.

So, we think that right now we're going to get into the inland areas and find devastation all across the state.

HEMMER: At this point -- and you said this at the end of last week -- 4,500 people are assigned on this job under your control, in fact, which is three times the amount of people assigned here for Charley about three and a half weeks ago. What are 4,500 people doing today, Mr. Brown?

BROWN: They are going to start focusing on distribution of food and ice. We're going to start working into the neighborhoods with our community response teams to find out where these folks are and get them registered with FEMA as quickly as possible. We'll have the rapid needs assessment teams going out into the communities to find out what needs to be done and reporting that back to the command center in Tallahassee and Atlanta, so that we can get those needs fulfilled as quickly as possible.

This storm has been going on for so long because she's been so strong and slow that we're trying to speed things up as rapidly as possible to give some immediate relief to these victims.

HEMMER: At this point, what are you able to assess? I know you've mentioned that you'll be going inland to try and figure out a better idea once the sun comes up as to what parts of the state needs it. But at this point, what can you say about Frances? What can you say about the damage? What can you say about the estimates at this point?

BROWN: Well, the estimates are just going to be through the roof, if there is a roof out there for it to go through, because there has just been so much water and wind associated with this storm and it's been moving so slowly that I'm very concerned about getting into the middle part of the state, into the rural areas where the flooding is going to be an incredible hazard. We're going to have a lot of structural damage that may not be readily visible to people as they go back in. We're going to have washouts and debris all over roads.

So, it's going to be a very time-consuming effort for us to get relief in there. It's going to be a very time-consuming effort to get power restored. But we have to do that as quickly as possible to give these folks some relief. (END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Michael Brown with the governor, Jeb Bush, over the weekend, too, and the two of them heading out yet again today.

"The New York Times" is reporting today that there's an estimate out there, just a staggering figure, too, $40 billion for the state of Florida between the storms of Charley and the storms of Frances. And now there's this other storm, Ivan, lurking out there far out in the Atlantic. Wow!

posted to GD: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4662338&mesg_id=4662338
Kick me!

this article was talking about getting the money put in the budget to support first-responders.

Money has also come from the federal office for Domestic Preparedness, which, along with FEMA, will be folded into the new Department of Homeland Security. The domestic preparedness office this fall distributed more than $315 million to states to help pay for equipment and terrorism training. Massachusetts received about $6.5 million of that money, although it is unclear how much has made its way to cities and towns.

U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-South Boston, said he hears requests for assistance all the time.

"South Shore towns are seen as the first responders if any emergency happens in Boston," Lynch said in an interview. "After all the emergency workers died on Sept. 11, it was neighboring towns and cities that stepped into help."

U.S. Sen. John Kerry has also expressed concern about the lack of support for local communities. He was one of only two senators to vote against stopgap spending measures that allowed Congress to adjourn this week without finishing work on budget bills that would provide funding for terrorism training and other matters. In a letter to President Bush, Kerry wrote: "The Senate should be embarrassed at what we are about to do. We are putting off until January decisions that should have been made months ago - and as a result, many government agencies at the federal, state and local levels will not see the additional money they have been promised until next spring."