Braised Lambchop
a nurse trying to work while suffering with chronic pain - she rambles a bit

If you went to work today, talked about the hurricane response with some coworkers, and figured you'd give FEMA the benefit of the doubt about it -- because it's a really big deal, and George is saying he's going to get to the bottom of all the screw-ups so it won't happen again, and it's unprecedented, and they really are doing the best they can -- read this article from the Salt Lake Tribune.

These guys left their homes and families to fly to Atlanta and help, thinking they'd be doing some kind of work for which they were trained, like hazmat or rescue operations or perhaps even fighting fire. Instead, they sat through a day community relations training -- how to help evacuees fill out forms and instruction on handing out fliers.

FEMA doesn't think there's a problem with it, either. It seems, according to a woman quoted in the piece, that any firefighter that complains should 'revisit his commitment to FEMA, to firefighting and to the citizens of this country.' That sure teaches me something -- I didn't know how to ask for help in a disaster while at the same time expressing complete disrespect for those volunteers at the same time.

The communities these firefighters call home are hiring replacements at great expense while their experienced guys are trying to help in a disaster, but at least the communities understand that firefighters know how to fight fires -- FEMA seems to think social workers -- or public relations spokesmen -- are just as capable of doing it.

The last three paragraphs tell it all:

"There are all of these guys with all of this training and we're sending them out to hand out a phone number," an Oregon firefighter said. "They [the hurricane victims] are screaming for help and this day [of FEMA training] was a waste."

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.

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.

This is what happens when taxcut-happy politicians get elected to office and give all their campaign managers jobs. Are you people who voted for Bush sorry yet?

(Via Josh Marshall.