In what should be a surprise to no one, it turns out that FEMA likes Texas way more than Puerto Rico.

Courtesy of Politico:  

No two hurricanes are alike, and Harvey and Maria were vastly different storms that struck areas with vastly different financial, geographic and political situations. But a comparison of government statistics relating to the two recovery efforts strongly supports the views of disaster-recovery experts that FEMA and the Trump administration exerted a faster, and initially greater, effort in Texas, even though the damage in Puerto Rico exceeded that in Houston. 

Within six days of Hurricane Harvey, U.S. Northern Command had deployed 73 helicopters over Houston, which are critical for saving victims and delivering emergency supplies. It took at least three weeks after Maria before it had more than 70 helicopters flying above Puerto Rico. 

Nine days after the respective hurricanes, FEMA had approved $141.8 million in individual assistance to Harvey victims, versus just $6.2 million for Maria victims. 

During the first nine days after Harvey, FEMA provided 5.1 million meals, 4.5 million liters of water and over 20,000 tarps to Houston; but in the same period, it delivered just 1.6 million meals, 2.8 million liters of water and roughly 5,000 tarps to Puerto Rico. 

Nine days after Harvey, the federal government had 30,000 personnel in the Houston region, compared with 10,000 at the same point after Maria. 

It took just 10 days for FEMA to approve permanent disaster work for Texas, compared with 43 days for Puerto Rico. 

Seventy-eight days after each hurricane, FEMA had approved 39 percent of federal applications for relief from victims of Harvey, versus 28 percent for Maria. 

Those imbalances track with another one: the attention of President Donald Trump. In public, Trump appeared much more concerned with the victims of Harvey than Maria. He visited Houston twice during the first eight days after the hurricane, but didn’t visit Puerto Rico for 13 days. In the first week after the disasters, Trump sent three times as many tweets about Harvey as Maria — 24 about the plight of Texas and eight about Puerto Rico, including a series of comments about Puerto Rico’s debt level and quality of infrastructure that local officials considered insulting and enraging while lives were still in jeopardy.

Trump also seemed less concerned with the actual delivery of services as he was about public relations, often  pressing FEMA Administrator Brock Long to make more television appearances bragging about the agency's progress.

This desire to flout his ability to respond to disaster was undermined by San Juan's mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz who constantly and publicly called out Trump for his ineffective response and his attempts to change the subject.

In the end Trump's preference for a state that voted overwhelmingly for him in 2016, to a territory that has no electoral votes to offer was impossible to miss:

“On Texas and Florida [during Hurricane Irma], the president was very vocal and engaged in the run-up to the storm. His messaging was frankly pretty good,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, the former top disaster response official at USAID under former President Barack Obama. “If you look at his public messaging on a comparable timeline around Puerto Rico, there’s virtually nothing. ... That sends a signal to the whole federal bureaucracy about how they should prioritize.”

I guess when Trump says "America first" he is really only talking about that part of America which voted for him, kisses his ass, and does not have so many damn brown people in it.

FEMA decides that they have done enough to help Puerto Rico. San Juan mayor disagrees. Strongly.

Courtesy of NBC News:  

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said in a statement that commercial supplies of food and water have been re-established in Puerto Rico and that private suppliers are “sufficiently available that FEMA commodities are no longer needed for emergency operations." The supplies were scheduled to end Wednesday; Washington's decision to end aid to the island was first reported by NPR.

FEMA said most grocery stores are open, as are transportation systems, gas stations, banks and ATMs. FEMA staging areas are still open and have provisions for local mayors to obtain for their citizens, FEMA said.

Not so fast FEMA.   

The mayor of San Juan on Tuesday denounced the U.S. government’s plan to end emergency food and water aid to Puerto Rico, saying she had just sent powdered milk to a school that was still without power and struggling to find the necessary supplies for its students. 

“Yesterday, I had to help — because it is a moral imperative to help — a school about 45 minutes from San Juan that still has no water, no electricity and no milk for their children,” the mayor, Carmen Yulín Cruz, said at the Latino Victory Summit, a gathering of Latino leaders and activists that seeks to boost the number of Hispanics in elected office.

“While I’m standing here with you there are children without food in Puerto Rico,” Cruz said at the summit. 

She said she continues to see women crossing rivers using a rope, because their bridge was washed away, to get medication for their children. 

“We need the help and it’s not help, we have paid for it,” Cruz said, noting that Puerto Ricans have fought in every U.S. military campaign.

"There is a need in Puerto Rico, and we ask the president to, for once, do the right thing and not take the aid away from Puerto Rico."

"During all the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico, there's been a feature of the Trump administration and that is that they take away the aid before it's done," Cruz said to reporters following her speech, citing the example of the withdrawal of the Army Reserve even though bridges still need building. 

Let's face it the people of Puerto Rico are simply not white enough for Trump to care about. 

In defiance of Donald Trump FEMA spokesperson says that they are not abandoning Puerto Rico.

.@FEMA will be w/Puerto Rico, USVI, every state, territory impacted by a disaster every day, supporting throughout their response & recovery

— Eileen Lainez (@FEMAspox) October 12, 2017

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

In a tweet Thursday afternoon, FEMA spokeswoman Eileen Lainez wrote that the agency “will be w/Puerto Rico, USVI, every state, territory impacted by a disaster every day, supporting throughout their response & recovery.”

Her tweet came five hours after Trump took to Twitter to say the island’s financial crisis “looms largely of their own making” and is due to the poor state of its infrastructure and electrical system and its governor’s “total lack of … accountability.”

Shortly after her initial tweet, Lainez sent FEMA’s latest update on support to Puerto Rico through the social media platform, a reminder that it will take time for the U.S. territory of 3.4 million people to recover, but that residents are seeing some services being restored. 

“FEMA, in coordination and partnership with 36 federal departments and agencies, remains focused on helping the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico with life-sustaining commodities and other essential services,” the agency stated in its press release from Wednesday. “As more businesses open and public services are restored, quality of life will continue to improve for many residents.”

Well it's good that some people still understand the responsibility of government.

It's like everybody's job these days is explaining what the president meant, or telling people to ignore him altogether.

While the death toll rises in Puerto Rico Donald Trump threatens to pull FEMA out.

"Puerto Rico survived the Hurricanes, now a financial crisis looms largely of their own making." says Sharyl Attkisson. A total lack of.....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 12, 2017

...accountability say the Governor. Electric and all infrastructure was disaster before hurricanes. Congress to decide how much to spend....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 12, 2017

...We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 12, 2017

Jesus Christ! What a heartless POS!

The people of Puerto Rico are still in desperate need of help as this report by Vox clearly illustrates:  

Lives surely have been saved in the response. But images and reports from the ground tell a story of people, cut off from basic supplies and health care, dying. They tell of hospitals running out of medication and fuel for their generators and struggling to keep up with the “avalanche of patients that came after the hurricane,” as one journalist put it. 

The death toll from the hurricane is now up to 45, according to Gov. Ricardo Rosselló. But 90 percent of the 3.4 million American citizens on the island still don’t have power, and 35 percent still don’t have water to drink or bathe in. And given how deadly power outages can be, 45 deaths seems low, according to disaster experts. 

Vox found the official death toll to be a little suspicious, so they did a deeper dive:  

We searched Google News for reports of deaths in English and Spanish media from Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria. We found reports of a total of 81 deaths linked directly or indirectly to the hurricane. Of those, 45 were the deaths certified by the government. The remaining 36 deaths were confirmed by local public officials or funeral directors, according to the reports. We also found another 450 reported deaths, most of causes still unknown, and reports of at least 69 people still missing. 

The broader issue here relates to how storm deaths are counted. There are clear deaths from the storm, clear deaths indirectly from the storm, and then deaths that are harder to determine — for instance, a sick patient who died in a hospital experiencing frequent power outages. And then there’s the issue of how effective authorities are at finding and investigating the deaths to make sure they’re included in the count. The breakdown of these categories suggests that the government is being much more cautious in designating deaths as directly or indirectly hurricane-related, given the public information available.

As Rachel Maddow pointed out on her show last night, a number of these fatalities were NOT the result of the initial hurricane, but the occurred in the aftermath because of a lack of food, water, or medical care.

And the death toll will only climb even higher if Trump pulls the relief effort.

But hey, why would he care?

After all these are only mostly brown people who cannot even vote in a presidential election.

General Russell Honore, the man credited with finally rescuing the victims of Katrina, says Donald Trump does not give a damn about poor people and people of color.

Gen. Honoré: "He doesn't give a damn about poor people, doesn't give a damn about people of color." https://t.co/vdHqzkWrEZ

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 30, 2017

Honore also called Trump an "SOB flying around in Air Force One."

You can see the clip here.

General Russell Honore was a conservative star after he swooped in to take command in New Orleans, so Trump might want to give his tweeting finger a rest.

If he starts a war with Honore he might find himself well out of his depth.

Besides the criticisms are coming hard and fast, so Trump can surely find a more vulnerable target to take out his anger on.

After all I'm sure there is another woman somewhere criticizing him.  

Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico slams response by FEMA, and begs for help.

The above comes after Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz responded with this after the acting head of Homeland Security suggested that what was happening in Puerto Rico was a "good news story."

“Dammit, this is not a good news story” It’s “a ‘people are dying’ story”: San Juan mayor slams acting DHS secretary https://t.co/q2mR2utu7k pic.twitter.com/GBx8K1hTW8

— CNN (@CNN) September 29, 2017

This is actually starting to look very muhc like Bush's completely ineffective response to Katrina, and this could be a defining moment in the Trump presidency.

P.S. The Mayor will be on with Rachel Maddow later on tonight. 

A new threat surfaces as hurricane season gets under way. There's nobody in charge.

Courtesy of WTKR: 

Hurricane season began on June 1, and according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the season will be a busy one, with an above-average range of 5-9 hurricanes likely in the Atlantic. 

The United States could be especially vulnerable to hurricane landfalls this year, observers say, but not because of the enhanced activity that is expected. 

The two agencies that protect the country’s coast lines and its residents, NOAA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are still without leaders — positions that must be appointed by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate. 

“That should scare the hell out of everybody,” retired US Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré told CNN. “These positions help save lives.”

For their part FEMA and NOAA say they are ready, however with nobody competent at the helm there is still concern that the lack of leadership will negatively impact reaction time.

Anybody remember Katrina?

Now for his part Trump of course is blaming the Democrats.

.@foxandfriends Dems are taking forever to approve my people, including Ambassadors. They are nothing but OBSTRUCTIONISTS! Want approvals.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017

But in fact Trump has been exceedingly slow in appointing the necessary personnel in the first place.

 As you can see while the confirmation process IS slower than in previous administrations (For good cause if you ask me.) there are still far fewer appointees to even consider.

And why is that? Take a guess:

“In the vetting process there is a lot of scrutiny of social media accounts, Twitter . . . any hint of something negative about Trump as a candidate can be disqualifying, and a lot of people haven’t made it through that filter,” said Christine Wormuth, who served as the Pentagon’s top policy official from 2014 to 2016, under former President Barack Obama’s administration. 

The investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russian officials is also scaring off people who had been on the fence about joining the administration. Even the opportunity to work under Mattis, who many of the potential picks know and respect, may not be enough. 

“With, frankly, the chaos that is happening, people who might have been open to it are asking themselves ‘Do I want to join this administration? How much of an impact will I have? Will I have to get a lawyer?’” Wormuth said.

So what is Trump doing with his time not spent making appointments to his cabinet, besides tweeting of course?

Funny you should ask.

President Trump is now at his Virginia golf club for the 2nd day in a row. It's his 23rd golf course visit since taking office 19 weeks ago.

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 4, 2017

Yeah, if Trump is looking for somebody to blame for the lack of leadership in key government agencies he need only look in the mirror.

Though I would advise him to only do so while fully dressed.

Because, ick!

Former FEMA director Michael "Heck of a job" Brown criticizes President Obama for not showing up for a photo-op during Louisiana flooding.

"I have no fucking idea what I'm doing?"

Courtesy of Mediaite:  

The ex-director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is criticizing President Obama for not making a better effort to head down to Louisiana and address the state’s devastating floods. 

“He could have gone to Lilly Armstrong Airport in New Orleans and made a statement there, or at the very least, what he should have done,” Brown said according to Washington Examiner. “The president needs to make sure that the entire Cabinet, that all of the departments and agencies of the federal government, know that if the FEMA director asks for anything, by damn, give it to him…” 

This has got to be a joke right?

I mean this guy cannot seriously come out of the woodwork to criticize this President over his response to this disaster? Can he?

As I mentioned in my previous post on Friday President Obama immediately signed the Louisiana Disaster Declaration which provided REAL support for those victimized by the flooding, and he is planning to visit on Tuesday.

As has also been reported the Governor of Louisiana asked the President to wait: 

“It is a major ordeal, they free up the interstate for him,” Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Thursday. “We have to take hundreds of local first responders, police officers, sheriffs, deputies and state troopers to provide security for that type of visit.” 

“I would just as soon have those people engaged in the response rather than trying to secure the president,” Bel Edwards continued. “So I’d ask him to wait, if he would, another couple weeks.”

As he said the Governor would really prefer that the President wait a few weeks longer, but unfortunately there is now so much political pressure being applied that if Obama does not visit soon the Republicans will find some way to make this Hillary's fault and use it against her in campaign ads.

By the way for those of you who may have forgotten, or are too young to remember, THIS is why Michael Brown's criticisms are laughable.

If that had been me I would NEVER have shown my face in public again.

Well look who returned to the scene of the crime.

Courtesy of Democratic Underground

Courtesy of NPR: 

Former President George W. Bush, whose legacy was marred by the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina, visited New Orleans today to mark the 10th anniversary of the tragedy. 

Bush and his wife, Laura, arrived Friday morning at Warren Easton Charter High School, where they met with students as well as New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Kathleen Blanco, who was Louisiana's governor when Katrina hit in August 2005. 

In a speech at the school, the former president said he will never forget the images of "misery and ruin" from Katrina. He said New Orleans was a city where "the levies gave out but ... [the] people never gave up."

Yeah, but their government sure did, didn't it Georgie?

If it wasn't for the media scrutiny and the resulting outrage I think the Bush administration would have simply let this whole city just wash away.

I cannot believe that Bush has the balls to show is face his face in New Orleans.

It kind of reminds me of an arsonist who stands next to the firetruck to watch the building he set on fire burn.

Worst President EVER!

Rand Paul upset that people are prioritizing receiving help after the devastating Hurricane Sandy, over buying bullets to kill more people overseas. Yeah, what's WITH those people?

Courtesy of Slate:  

Over the weekend I tried to ask and answer a few questions about the debate Chris Christie started with libertarians. By attacking that "strain" in the GOP, and by challenging anyone who disagrees with current American foreign policy to come and meet a 9/11 widow. After I wrote it, Sen. Rand Paul punched back with proud disdain for Christie. 

"The people who want to criticize me and call me names, they are precisely the same people who are unwilling to cut the spending. They are "Gimme, gimme, gimme all my Sandy money now." Those are the people who are bankrupting the government and not allowing enough money be left over for national defense."

Seriously this guy, THIS guy is going to "save" the Republican party?

Yeah well he just lost the vote of EVERY citizen who watched Sandy destroy New Jersey and the tornadoes devastate Oklahoma on television.

This is exactly the kind of opponent that the Democrats want the Republicans to send up against Hillary in 2016.

What an asshole!

President Obama returns to devastation left in wake of Sandy in order to console victims and view progress of the cleanup.

President Obama consoles parents of children killed in storm.

Courtesy of the Chicago Tribune:

President Barack Obama consoled grieving victims of Superstorm Sandy on the ground and surveyed disaster zones from the air on Thursday, visiting parts of New York City still struggling to recover 17 days after the storm devastated the U.S. Northeast. 

Wearing a wind breaker and sturdy shoes, the president walked through destroyed sections of the borough of Staten Island, hugging and chatting with people whose lives were shattered when Sandy slammed ashore on October 29, bringing a record storm surge and killing more than 120 people. 

During his FIRST visit to the areas devastated by this incredible storm, the President was criticized for using it as a photo-op for political gain. Well now the election is over, and here the President is again, doing the job he was elected to do.

Clearly it was NEVER about the photo-op, it was about helping people in need.

I am sure that Mitt Romney probably has the help that FEMA provided these devastated people on his list of things the President GAVE voters in order to buy their support.

By the way you can watch the President's statement by clicking here.

Ladies and Gentleman allow me to introduce my President and yours, Barack "Together we can do anything" Obama.

I don't really think I have to add anything.

THAT is who Mitt Romney is running against, and that help he is offering this devastated woman is what Romney wants to privatize.

I believe the appropriate word here is "checkmate."

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie gushes over President Obama's hands on approach to dealing with storm devastation. Update!

Come on! You just KNOW that somewhere Mitt Romney is banging his perfectly coiffed head against the wall.

I understand that in a desperate attempt to appear that he is helping with the relief effort Romney will be holding a "storm relief event" with, get this, race car driver Richard Petty and country music singer Randy Owen. Isn't Ohio one of the few states in the north east NOT affected directly by Sandy?

God this is just getting pathetic.

Update: Oops I stand corrected, it looks like Sandy has now started to impact Ohio and over 250,000 people are without power and hundreds of schools are closed. Hmm, I wonder if Romney will still show up or run for safety?

Update 2: Today Christie is no less impressed by President Obama, and seems substantially UNIMPRESSED by Romney's efforts to campaign during this tragedy.

This from Raw Story:

 “The president was great last night,” Christie continued. “He said he would get it done. At 2 a.m., I got a call from FEMA to answer a couple of final questions and then he signed the declaration this morning. So I have to give the president great credit. He’s been on the phone with me three times in the last 24 hours. He’s been very attentive, and anything that I’ve asked for, he’s gotten to me. So, I thank the president publicly for that. He’s done — as far as I’m concerned — a great job for New Jersey.” 

Fox News co-host Steve Doocy wondered when Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was going to get some of the same benefits from the hurricane with a photo op in disaster-stricken New Jersey towns. 

“Over the last couple of months, you have appeared throughout the country, Governor, on behalf of Mitt Romney,” Doocy remarked to Christie. “[W]e hear that perhaps Mr. Romney may do some storm-related events. Is there any possibility that Gov. Romney may go to New Jersey to tour some of the damage with you?” 

“I have no idea, nor am I the least bit concerned or interested,” Christie replied, immediately shutting down the idea. “I’ve got a job to do here in New Jersey that’s much bigger than presidential politics and I could [sic] care less about any of that stuff.” 

“I have a job to do,” he added. “I’ve got 2.4 million people out of power, I’ve got devastation on the shore, I’ve got floods in the northern part of my state. If you think right now I give a damn about presidential politics then you don’t know me.” 

Oh damn! That's going to lave a mark!

Update 3: Apparently the Romney Ohio "Storm Relief Event" is going on now, and though they were informed that the Red Cross would NOT accept donations that were brought to the event, the campaign is indeed accepting donations on their behalf.

By the way the quick name change for this event did not happen soon enough to affect the already printed press badges.

 "Victory Rally?" What victory is the Romney campaign celebrating? President Obama's?

Reporter Jackie Kucinich tweeted that during this bizarre gathering there was a Romney/Ryan campaign video playing on a giant screen. Gee I wonder how THAT will provide "relief" for the victims of hurricane Sandy?

The size difference between last year's Hurricane Irene and this year's Frankenstorm Sandy.

Can you say "Holy Shit?"

Here is a picture that Lawrence O'Donnell tweeted of 6th Avenue in New York.

Yes you read that right, New York!

Anybody ever see the movie "28 Days Later?"

Currently all kinds of blogs and sites are going down due to the storm. It is one of the few times weather wise that I am very glad to be way up here in Alaska.

Please be safe my friends.

Mitt Romney: Federal relief spending is "immoral." Filed under things you don't want on the record as a hurricane threatens 50 million voters right before an election.

Yes it certainly is immoral to spend money on disaster relief when you could save all of that money and provide tax breaks to the rich. Don't you agree?

By the way Sandy is currently gaining strength and could impact up to 50 million Americans. Right now President Obama is getting relief efforts underway and has promised to cut through the red tape and get help to those afflicted as quickly as possible.

This is not official but I do believe that Romney's response to the storm was something along the lines of "Well can't those people just leave the area and weather the storm in one of their other houses?"

P.S. On a personal note I hope that all of our IM friends over on the East Coast are able to get someplace safe and please know that our best wishes and thoughts are with you.

While praying to God for rain to put out the Texas forest fires for him, perhaps Rick Perrry should have prayed for the intelligence NOT to cut the firefighting budget by 75%.

Courtesy of Opposing Views:

According to KVUE-TV, the state of Texas, under Gov. Rick Perry, cut state funding for the volunteer fire departments that protect most of the state from wildfires. 

Firefighters have actually been dipping into their own pockets to fight fires. Volunteer departments that were already facing financial strain had their funding cut from $30 million to $7 million. 

There are 879 volunteer fire departments in Texas; 114 are paid fire departments, while 187 departments are a combination of volunteer and paid.

So just to clarify what is taking place in Texas: Rick Perry decides to cut the volunteer firefighting budget by 75% (What could go wrong with that?). The state is soon subjected to one of the worst droughts in American history. This results in perfect conditions to allow numerous devastating fires to ravage the countryside. Having no idea how to solve this crisis Governor Perry pleads with his fellow Texans to pray for rain. Then when THAT does not work (Go figure!), he asks one of the very Federal programs he is always railing against, FEMA, to come to Texas and rescue his state from his huge screw up.

Does THAT about cover it?

And THIS is the guy that the Republicans are seriously considering running for President?

P.S. Hell I did not even mention the number of innocent people that were put to death under his watch.

That popping sound you hear is Teabagger heads exploding all over the country as Chris Christie commends FEMA's response to Irene.

From the MTP transcript:

MR. GREGORY: Safety first, as you've repeated over and over again. There will be a morning after kind of damage assessment. And this is going to be a big story, isn't it, Governor, up and down the seaboard? We already have local municipalities and states being so hard hit in this economy, what kind of cost, damage estimates are you expecting at this early point? 

GOV. CHRISTIE: Well, listen, I've got to imagine that the damage estimates are going to be in the billions of dollars, David, if not the tens of billions of dollars. We're going to start later this afternoon as soon as the storm clears. I'm going to personally go and start making assessments of the coastline and see what the damages are like there. And, at the same time, we need to deal with this inland flooding, which may not completely subside in New Jersey until Tuesday, some of our rivers. So the damage assessment's going to be a rolling one. The coastline will be the first we'll be able to judge. But then inland we're going to have a lot of damage, too, from these river floodings. 

MR. GREGORY: Any lessons you take away? I mean, this has been an extraordinary week, and not only for your state and this storm, but also an earthquake. As a Los Angeles guy, I was, I was not as freaked out about that, but now as an Easterner, I was. If you look at that and the coordination between a big state like yours and the federal government, are there lessons you take away from this week? Jobs well done, things that you can improve on? 

GOV. CHRISTIE: Well, certainly we're going to have an after action, you know, program, to look at what we could do better. I know there's always things that we could've done better. But what I'm proud of is that we're coordinating well with the federal government. We have FEMA folks right here on site in the operations and intelligence center you see here. They're working incredibly hard in providing things to us that we need. Our own team at the state level has put aside everything except for saying, listen, how do we best serve--making sure that human life is safe and then trying to minimize property damage? So we'll do an after action report, David, and take a look at--I know there's always things we could do better. But here's the key: The key is that we've tried to keep people fully informed, be fully transparent, to lower fear and raise confidence. And that's what we're trying to do, and I think that's the best thing a governor can do in this circumstance.

Now Christie did not personally give credit to President Obama for his response to Hurricane Tropical Storm Irene, but by giving mad props to FEMA he may as well have.

I would suggest that we will probably NOT hear Christie's name popping up as a potential GOP candidate for President any time soon. Because despite the Teabagger's seeming reverence for the idea of "common sense," they really don't like it when a Republican demonstrates any.

Now this in no way makes me a Chris Christie fan, but I can hardly wait to see his response if Eric Cantor interferes with the federal government's ability to respond to the needs in New Jersey because the House Republicans cannot find enough cuts in other federal programs to offset the cost.

Somehow I just don't think that Cantor wants to take on Governor Christie over budgetary concerns while people in his state are suffering.

Update:  Then as counterpoint to Christie, who realizes the need for government spending during a crisis like Irene, we have Michele Bachmann, occupying the space usually filled by crazed embarrassment to Christianity Pat Robertson, who seems to believe that the disaster was God's way of telling Ameircans to cut spending.


“I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?’ Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we’ve got to rein in the spending.”

And of course the truly sad thing for politics in this country is that Michele Bachmann is one of the favorites of the small minority of poorly educated, and historically ignorant, Teabaggers who are now holding the GOP by the balls.

This is how a leader handles a disaster and puts the minds of Americans at ease.

I swear it feels like President Obama is always prepared for just about ANYTHING that might come our way.

Of course there are some who are criticizing the response to this storm as "overkill."

But as we all know if the President had not been so completely on the ball he would have been slammed for leaving the country unprepared for the damage left in its wake.

Hell they are already giving him shit for not ending his vacation earlier, even though it is clear he was able to handle both it and spend time with his family at the same time without a hitch.

Eric Cantor will withhold federal disaster funding to states impacted by Hurricane Irene unless Democrats agree to spending cuts.

From Business Insider:

A spokesperson for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said that if there is any damage caused by Hurricane Irene requiring federal disaster funding, the money would have to be balanced out by spending cuts elsewhere in government. 

"We aren't going to speculate on damage before it happens, period," his spokesperson Laena Fallon told TalkingPointsMemo. "But, as you know, Eric has consistently said that additional funds for federal disaster relief ought to be offset with spending cuts." 

Already states from North Carolina to New York have declared states of emergency in preparation for the storm.

You know I wish Eric Cantor were MY Congressman.  So I could punch him right in the ball sack!

What kind of cowardly piece of bull feces holds victims of a disaster hostage so that he can earn a couple of political points with the tiny minority of Teabaggers currently holding the GOP hostage?

Oh yeah, THIS cowardly piece of bull feces.

I certainly hope the people of Virginia keep this incident in mind the next time Snidely Whiplash here is up for reelection.

By the way if you are from Virginia, forget about punching Cantor in the scrotum. He would have to actually have balls for you to punch him IN them.

Will the recent tornadoes damage the GOP's anti-government argument?

From the Kansas City Star:

A pernicious story line, recited on talk radio, in state legislatures and in some quarters of Washington, says that government can’t do anything right. Government is the problem, Ronald Reagan famously said. And a vast political and business alliance works furiously to make his declaration a self-fulfilling prophecy by underfunding vital programs and disparaging public employees.

But when disaster strikes, we expect government to work. We need it to work. Last week, it did.
Police, firefighters and medics made their way through the dark and the rain Sunday night to rescue the trapped and aid the wounded. Kansas City had 50 firefighters en route within hours. Its police department sent communications specialists, tactical teams, a search-and-rescue dog and a traffic enforcement squad.

Other cities sent first-responder teams. They worked in the rain that first day, searching the rubble for survivors and for bodies. In a cruel sign that nature hadn’t quite finished its mayhem, two police officers from Riverside were felled by a lightning strike. Officer Jeff Taylor was gravely injured.
Like the city he was helping, he will have a long road to recovery.

Throughout the week, personnel from the state of Missouri poured into Joplin. The National Guard and the Highway Patrol got there quickly. Officials with expertise in emergency management, insurance, mental health, care of senior citizens, land use and power grids followed.

The often-maligned Federal Emergency Management Agency got a team to Joplin within hours of the tornado to set up telecommunications and help with logistics and support.

This in no way diminishes the vital role of the Red Cross and other nonprofit agencies, and of businesses, in responding to the disaster. But public employees and government agencies make up the underpinning of the recovery effort.

The need for government help in Joplin will continue for years. Streets must be replaced. Schools and a hospital must be rebuilt. Families will need temporary housing.

It is easy to wax poetic about trimming government spending, and cutting costs to taxpayers, but when disaster strikes, or our elderly loved ones suffer a health crisis, aren't we ALL suddenly fans of government programs like FEMA, Medicare, and even the National Guard?

That is why the Republican rhetoric is simply blown away in the wind when  you look out the window and see this bearing down on you.



I don't know about the rest of you, but after seeing the images of the devastation left in the wake of these massive tornadoes, I am one hundred percent on support of having my taxes raised to pay for the programs that help my fellow Americans.

But hey if we are going to get serious about cutting government costs, I know a couple of wars I would gladly see come to an end.  Just a thought.