Feb 01 2009
President Oblivious Ignoring Dying Americans
Americans are dying. They are without food, warm shelter, electricity and water. They are isolated and emergency crews are struggling to find them. Sound like stories from Hurricane Katrina in 2005? No, in the era of Global Warming this is Kentucky 2009 and the severe cold front that swept through the nation.
Someone needs to go wake up President Oblivious, because he must be snoozing in that warm Oval Office after his big Wagyu Steak binge not to have noticed, mentioned a word, or taken any emergency actions to this days long debacle. The Anchoress has the rundown and reactions, but here is the essence of the horrible news the liberal media and DC government seem to have missed:
Dozens of deaths have been reported and many people are pleading for a faster response to the power outages. About 438,000 homes and businesses across Kentucky were without power, down from more than 600,000, the largest outage in state history, and as far away as Oklahoma, around 10,000 customers still had no electricity.
The outages disabled water systems in much of the western part of the state, where some in rural areas resorted to dipping buckets in a creek. Authorities warned it could be days or weeks before power was restored in the most remote spots.
…“We’re asking people to pack a suitcase and head south and find a motel if they have the means, because we can’t service everybody in our shelter,†said Crittenden County Judge-Executive Fred Brown, who oversees about 9,000 people, many of whom spent a fifth night sleeping in the town’s elementary school.
Local officials grew angrier at what they said was a lack of help from the state and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.[Emphasis mine – admin]
In Kentucky’s Grayson County, about 80 miles southwest of Louisville, Emergency Management Director Randell Smith said the 25 National Guardsmen who have responded have no chain saws to clear fallen trees.
“We’ve got people out in some areas we haven’t even visited yet,†Smith said. “We don’t even know that they’re alive.â€
Smith said FEMA was still a no-show days after the storm. [all emphasis mine – admin]
President Oblivious – if this were Katrina and you hadn’t even mentioned a word (or done the obligatory fly over) you would be up on impeachment charges. Right? Hey, maybe you could bone up on your own policy statements regarding Katrina to familiarize yourself with what you should be doing …. Â RIGHT NOW!
Barack Obama swiftly responded to Hurricane Katrina. Citing the Bush administration’s “unconscionable ineptitude†in responding to Hurricane Katrina, Obama introduced legislation requiring disaster planners to take into account the specific needs of low-income hurricane victims. Obama visited thousands of Hurricane survivors in the Houston Convention Center and later took three more trips to the region.
…
2. NEVER AGAIN
Barack Obama will take the lessons of Katrina seriously and will ensure that we never face the same problems again.
Fix FEMA: FEMA’s failures to adequately respond to Hurricane Katrina contributed to the loss of life and property across the Gulf Coast. As president, Barack Obama will professionalize and depoliticize the appointment of FEMA’s director. Like the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FEMA Director will have a fixed term of office to insulate him or her from politics. The FEMA Director will report directly to President Obama, serve a six-year term and will have professional emergency management experience.
I know, being POTUS looks so easy from the outside. But still, that is no excuse to leave 100’s of thousands of Americans in need of food and shelter for almost a week!
Americans better not see one single photo-op of you lazing around watching the Super Bowl today President Obama – you have work to do, so get to it!
(Note: the image above is of a Russian soldier who froze to death at his post – but it conveys the point).
Update: More here at Jammie Wearing Fool.
After all, these people are white Americans. Really what do you expect? I’m sure it’s payback and racial! Isn’t that what they said about Bush?
You are absolutely right Kathie – Obama hates white people and wants them do die! In fact I’ll bet he paid some Chicago goons to dynamite the power lines just like Bush dynamited the levees in Nawlins.
Power off 6:32 AM Wed. on 7:35 PM Sat. Near Louisville, KY…. One very large ice cube covering everything.
Utility workers great. Local first responders very good. Federal Gubmint not here yet,,,,….
I really don’t expect any useful help [in the short run] from the feds. After all we are still waiting for fEMA grants to help pay for the last storm (IKE) which gave us a similar outage during the summer.
Fema really is not responsible to be a First Responder. But if you think they were ‘rong in NO then they will be really ‘rong here. To further mix the mess we have Damacrat Mare and Guvernator, but the state Voted for the other guy…
Hey Dorf,
Glad to hear you and your family are all right and with power.
My opinion – we hold the left to their standards.
I’m sorry, but, in order to be consistent here, I felt at the time of Katrina that the Federal government had no responsibility for the aftermath, and I feel that way now about what nature is doing to the Midwest.
The focus should be on the prevention of catastrophe on a local and state level. FEMA has evolved into nothing more than a federal purse set up to aid the executive branch in garnering more votes for the party, and serves only to usurp state prerogatives and replace state obligations with federal ones. At best, FEMA should make loans to affected municipalities and states, loans that citizens should be more than willing to pay back. We already have at least one unintended consequence, in that many states no longer allocate funds to prepare to help themselves when these disasters occur.
FEMA’s very existence is a bane to republicanism and its constitutionality should be in question.
I disagree. While the Federal Government is not the first line of response, they do control the reinforcements. After Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Government sent in massive amounts of help within days. The problem in that case was total incompetence by local and state officials.
In this case, enough time has elapsed for Federal aid to arrive. And Obigot has done NOTHING. Whether through his racism or his incompetence, he is responsible for the lack of action.
And he and his party must be held to account with the same severity as Bush and the Republicans after their far lesser offenses during Hurricane Katrina.
The non secret to disasters is simply Just about everyone at the personal level will help. It confounds the left and the media nearly every time.
Just recall the recent aluminum bird in the river. As I counted from the clock on the Coast Guard video footage a Ferry boat was on site and taking on passengers in 4 minutes. They did not sit by and wait for federal help……
As someone once advertised ‘Just Do It’
You don’t think the fact that this happened in a part of the country where people are bitterly clinging to their guns and religion has anything to do with Barack’s lack of response, do you?
You would think he would have learned from Katrina the albatross something like this can become.
gwood mike et al You are entirely correct. I believe that FEMA was created as an After Action support and cleanup group. The media and the left have simply used it and a few disasters to expand federal power and control (with the usual dismal results).
The real helpful thing that the Feds can and are doing is to expand the equipment and training available to First Responders. In their usual clumsy fashion they are doing fairly well. I follow local police and fire via scanning radio and simply by looking at them. Particularly local volunteer/paid fire departments are doing an outstanding job responding and cooperating at events.
[…] AJ: Quotes the Obama White House Website on how it had learned the lessons of Katrina. […]
WHERE THE HELL IS SHEPARD SMITH and the Cameras? Too cold for ya, Shep?
Sheez, Shep, you’re falling down on the job! sarcasm off.
2009 Superbowl Predicitons…
Pittsburgh Steelers versus Arizona Cardinals
Prediction: the Score by quarter:
First Quarter: 7-7
Second Quarter: 17-7
Third Quarter: 27-7
Fourth Quarter: 27-7
It doesn’t matter who has what score as long as the last digit from each team is…
No power here still….Louisville–South End
ivehadit:
Good question. I had enough of Shep for a lifetime after Katrina. The eyeball popping hysterical catterwalling was just too much for me.
The truth is places like Kentucky get ice instead of a lot of snow (usually} and when something like this happens you will die waiting for the feds to find you. Only the locals can deal with something like this. It takes days just to get the roads clear enough to get around.
I live in southern Indiana and was far enough north that we got lots of snow instead of ice.But we had floods back in the spring. There is always a natural disaster somewhere.
Now that Bush is not around to sabotage anymore the press will fall back on its usual state of benign indifference to stuff like this.
If you want coverage, watch the Weather Channel.
It’s just a million people freezing, what’s so important about that? Do you know how hard it is to fly news helicopters in the ice and snow?
Really, everybody knows that the Fed can only go in when invited by the governor. The National Guard was called out by the Governor, a little late I think, but called they were. FEMA might have had some equipment that the State does not. But, Obama could have drawn attention to the situation, and encouraged people who could have helped to contact someone, the Governor, and offer to help.
Bush did all that he could under the circumstances, the media was neglect.
kathie,
very interesting. If you recall, in Louisiana the ‘state’ DID NOT call for FEMA, in fact they wouldn’t ok them coming in. Bush got the blame for not forcing them on the state. Is Obama gonna get the blame for not forcing them on Kentucky, or just having them show up. Kentucky is full of white people that cast their electoral votes for the Republican. They’re gonna have to wait til a Repub gets back in to get any help. I’m sure if it was a bunch of blacks and/or illegal aliens he would have the helicopters weatherized and get them in there.
Obama is likely to be delusional from sitting in his hot house growing orchids while the people in Kentucky suffer.
sarc off.
Redteam..I learned a little about how the government works that I didn’t know when Katrina hit. States are sovereign, much like the United States is against other Nations. For the Feds to operate in a state they must have the permission of the Governor. Much like a Foreign power is invited to have a embassy in the United States. It appears that MSM should have learned the same lesson that I did, that Bush could not enter Louisiana with out permission. Like Bush said, the Feds were there in 30 hours and had pulled everyone off roofs. What else were they suppose to do. Of course a President could call on all Americans to help in anyway. Obama has said nothing. Does anybody care? It appears only the people in Kentucky.
I can only conclude that “Obama hates frozen people”. 🙂
[…] No wait- we’re talking Marie Antoinette. While people in Kentucky were going without, he was eating terribly expensive steak, and basking in a 75 degree White […]