Wednesday, September 7, 2005
50 Firefighters Were Diverted From Helping Katrina Victims To Pose With Bush...On any given morning, I can browse some of the web sites that I regularly visit and find enough things that piss me off to last all day.
This morning the first one I hit was DailyKos, and let me just say, I've got enough anger to last me the rest of September.
Kos had linked to an article that discussed a thousand firefighters from around the country that had volunteered to come to the aid of the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
A noble calling to be sure. I swear I wish I had the kind of balls these guys have. Unfortunately, most of them got stuck in a bullshit FEMA exercise, while some of them got a little sidetracked before they could help Katrina's victims:
Firefighters say they want to brave the heat, the debris-littered roads, the poisonous cottonmouth snakes and fire ants and travel into pockets of Louisiana where many people have yet to receive emergency aid.Firefighters, aircraft carriers, burning rubble, soldiers, Marines, police, children, etc: They're all just props when it comes to what really matters to the Republican political machine...
But as specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew's first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas.
MAKE PRESIDENT BUSH LOOK GOOD AT ALL TIMES NO MATTER WHAT THE EXPENSE...
UPDATE: Another revolting piece in the article deals with a FEMA agent upbraiding firefighters for not wanting to be PR agents for her incompetent organization...
Many of the firefighters, assembled from Utah and throughout the United States by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, thought they were going to be
deployed as emergency workers.
Instead, they have learned they are going to be community-relations officers for FEMA, shuffled throughout the Gulf Coast region to disseminate fliers and a phone number: 1-800-621-FEMA.
On Monday, some firefighters stuck in the staging area at the Sheraton peeled off their FEMA-issued shirts and stuffed them in backpacks, saying they refuse to represent the federal agency.
Federal officials are unapologetic.
"I would go back and ask the firefighter to revisit his commitment to FEMA, to firefighting and to the citizens of this country," said FEMA spokeswoman Mary Hudak.
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