On Nov 3, 9:30*am, "Edwin Pawlowski" wrote:
"Norminn" wrote in message
Of course he could not have stopped the storm. *Took what, a month, before
he paid attention
and sent in relief?

Sure, there were many problems but was it actually Bush? * When was the
latest plan actually put into effect for hurricane preparedness for the
larges storm in decades? *Could go back to Nixon for all we know. *These
things are taken care of by staff and underlings, not the President no
matter who happens to hold that position at the time of the storm.

As everybody else seems to know, Clinton had FEMA running like a well
oiled machine. He appointed James Lee Witt as the first FEMA director
with actual emergency management experience, and made it a cabinet
post. Under Clinton, FEMA enacted periodic disaster drills that
brought together local, state and federal officials all over the
country to practice emergency reponse to natural disasters and
terrorist attacks. They established a new national stockpile of
emergency medical supplies, which were what were distributed and used
after 9/11, the Bushies not having put any effort or money into it. In
fact, thee Bushies were upset that spending on "domestic preparedness"
programs had risen from $42.6 million in 1997 to more than $1.2
billion in 2000. Bush demoted the agency’s status and made his crony
Joe Allbaugh, who had no experience in the area, the head, as a
political position. Albaugh went ahead to disassemble FEMA. He told
Congress in May 2001: “Many are concerned that federal disaster
assistance may have evolved into both an oversized entitlement program
and a disincentive to effective state and local risk management.
Expectations of when the federal government should be involved and the
degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate
level.”

So, when disaster struck, of course they couldn't cope; they had set
it up that way.