WWTBAM Bored

.... gotten all in a tizzy about FEMA"s rather poor response to the weather related problems following the snow storms in Kentucky?

.... or about our President's apparent lack of concern regarding the the same?

.... or about our President holding a cocktail party to celebrate the House passage of the stimulus bill at which the House members and other muckity mucks were treated to $100 a pound Japanese steak? Isn't this (a) horribly wasteful spending, (b) spending money on Japanese beef when there are presumably a whole bunch of good American steaks available at 1/10 the cost, and (c) extreme insensitivity to the suffering people without power in Kentucky?

.... or about our President's cracking a joke about a woman's apparent weight problem during a nationally televised interview prior to the Super Bowl? You know, the President who is so concerned about women's rights?

Rhetorical questions all....

silverscreenselect wrote: .... gotten all in a tizzy about FEMA"s rather poor response to the weather related problems following the snow storms in Kentucky?

Rhetorical though it may be, I can answer this one for you - it's because FEMA isn't involved at this time. The Corps of Engineers is involved in handling debris removal and other such matters, and the Corps is already working - our district spent most of Friday and the weekend awarding contracts for various projects, and personnel from other districts have come to our Emergency Operations Center to assist.

silverscreenselect wrote:.... or about our President's apparent lack of concern regarding the the same?

Kentucky has less than 3 million people, and only a small percentage has been affected, unlike Katrina. I imagine the president is concerned, but to be quite frank, I don't think he needs to come out with a Kleenex and commiserate with the folks in the Bluegrass State. I thought Bush's "flyovers" of New Orleans were unnecessary grandstanding, and if Obama were to do the same I'd feel the same way.

silverscreenselect wrote:.... or about our President holding a cocktail party to celebrate the House passage of the stimulus bill at which the House members and other muckity mucks were treated to $100 a pound Japanese steak? Isn't this (a) horribly wasteful spending, (b) spending money on Japanese beef when there are presumably a whole bunch of good American steaks available at 1/10 the cost, and (c) extreme insensitivity to the suffering people without power in Kentucky?

Y'know, SSS, I think the "suffering people without power in Kentucky" (of which I am one), don't really care about this. I haven't heard anyone saying that Obama ought to turn out the lights and turn off the heat at the White House in solidarity with us.

SSS:

KNOCK! KNOCK!

Who is it?

It's the "Hope and Change Inquisition, we find your lack of faith disturbing..."

earendel wrote: Y'know, SSS, I think the "suffering people without power in Kentucky" (of which I am one), don't really care about this. I haven't heard anyone saying that Obama ought to turn out the lights and turn off the heat at the White House in solidarity with us.

I'd bet that most of the suffering people in New Orleans really didn't care whether Bush cut his vacation short or not either. The media sure did and roasted him royally on it.

If Bush had made jokes about Jessica Simpson's (mea culpa) weight problem during a Super Bowl interview, you'd have heard about it.

If Bush had hosted a bunch of fat cats treating them to $100 a pound Japanese steak to celebrate the passage of the October TARP package, you'd have heard about it.

And I hadn't even brought up Tom Daschle's tax problems....

I don't think Bush was blameless: he deserved what he got. But Obama is proving to be nothing else but a more slickly packaged version of the same thing, which so far the media is willing to ignore.

BTW, Obama's crack wasn't aimed at Jessica Simpson- it was aimed at the American people for being concerned about such "weighty matters" as Jessica's weight.

I leave it to you to judge whether the President should view the American people so cynically.

silverscreenselect wrote:

earendel wrote: Y'know, SSS, I think the "suffering people without power in Kentucky" (of which I am one), don't really care about this. I haven't heard anyone saying that Obama ought to turn out the lights and turn off the heat at the White House in solidarity with us.

I'd bet that most of the suffering people in New Orleans really didn't care whether Bush cut his vacation short or not either. The media sure did and roasted him royally on it.

Had Katrina occurred in the first few days after Bush had been elected in 2000 the media howl might have been much less - it was only because Bush had proved his inadequacy in so many other areas that the media jumped on Katrina as another example.

silverscreenselect wrote:If Bush had made jokes about Ashlee Simpson's weight problem during a Super Bowl interview, you'd have heard about it.

Can't speak to that, because I didn't hear what he said.

silverscreenselect wrote:If Bush had hosted a bunch of fat cats treating them to $100 a pound Japanese steak to celebrate the passage of the October TARP package, you'd have heard about it.

Again, different circumstances. Every president has a honeymoon with the media.

I reiterate that the crack was not at jessica Simpson, but at the American people.

Or how Obama is keeping rendition in place? Not that I blame him, but I am amused that organizations like Human Rights Watch, who opposed all forms of rendition when Bush was president, is totally on board with this decision.

earendel wrote:

silverscreenselect wrote: .... gotten all in a tizzy about FEMA"s rather poor response to the weather related problems following the snow storms in Kentucky?

Rhetorical though it may be, I can answer this one for you - it's because FEMA isn't involved at this time. The Corps of Engineers is involved in handling debris removal and other such matters, and the Corps is already working - our district spent most of Friday and the weekend awarding contracts for various projects, and personnel from other districts have come to our Emergency Operations Center to assist.

FEMA thinks they're involved in Kentucky.
http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=47383

I've seen a few news stories, without looking for them, with Kentucky local officials complaining abut the lack of response from FEMA.

Here's one from the AP:

Local officials were growing angry with what they said was a lack of help from the state and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In 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."

Smith said FEMA has been a no-show so far.

"I'm not saying we can't handle it; we'll handle it," Smith said. "But it would have made life a lot easier" if FEMA had reached the county sooner, he said.

FEMA spokeswoman Mary Hudak said some FEMA personnel already are in Kentucky working in the state's emergency operations center and that more will be arriving in coming days. Hudak said FEMA also has shipped to 50 to 100 generators to the state to supply electricity to facilities like hospitals, nursing homes, and water treatment plants.

For what it's worth, the Obameter that I cited (which you can access at http://www.politifact.com), which keeps track of whether Obama is keeping his campaign promises has officially listed his first broken promise.

Obama promised to make all nonemergency proposed legislation available on the White House web site for public and review and comment for five days before taking action. He signed the Ledbetter Act (the first legislation he's signed) without allowing for comment. Ironically, passage of the Act does fulfill another campaign promise he made to see about overturning the Supreme Court decision in the case (and it was the right thing to do).