Bloggerman: New FEMA boss is "Duct Tape Man"

[Mark E. Smith]

Secaucus - If Michael Brown's resignation this afternoon as the head of FEMA was supposed to end the political controversy over the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina, it probably won't.

In another gesture symbolizing the continued confusion of the federal response, the man President Bush immediately named to succeed "Brownie," proves to have been the same FEMA official who, two-and-a-half years ago, suggested that Americans stock up on duct tape to protect against a biological or chemical terrorist attack.

David Paulison, then the govt's Fire Administrator, joined with the then-head of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, on February 10th, 2003, to say that duct tape and plastic sheeting should be part of any home's "survival kit" in preparation for a terrorist attack. That set off a run on duct tape at stores, and widespread criticism of the administration. It might have been the first time a large number of Americans wondered if the govt really knew what it was talking about when it came to disaster preparedness.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8514671/

[saigon68]

1. LOL

How To Make Your Own Terror Safe Room
Your Guide, Amanda Galiano From Amanda Galiano,
Your Guide to Little Rock, AR.

http://littlerock.about.com/cs/charities/ht/terrorroom.htm

With the threat of terrorism looming over us, the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management has some tips on how to prepare a safe room in your house.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 1 hour
Here's How:

1. Before the event, buy enough plastic sheeting or visquine to cover all the windows, doors, heating and air vents and other openings in single room of your house.

2. Get duct tape and emergency supplies to last at least three days. A radio is smart idea. Store all of these in your "safe room."

3. Before the event, cut out all the sheeting. Make sure you have sheeting prepared to cover all openings already cut out. In the event of an emergency, you might not have enough time to cut everything out.

4. Start by covering the doors. Cover the entire door down to floor. Don't let any air enter through. Use duct tape to secure the sheeting to the walls and floor.

5. Cover windows, air vents, light switches and outlets in the same way, even phone jacks. All of these could let air enter the room. Be sure to turn off the heating and air before you cover the vents!

6. Be sure to bring pets and family into the room before you seal it off!
Tips:

1. Don't forget to store medications, asthma inhalers and things like that in your safe room.
2. Be sure to have scissors in your emergency supply kit to cut the duct tape with!
3. If you have pets, remember to stock pet food in your supply kit.
4. Extra batteries are a smart idea. You will not be able to plug up radios, tvs, etc. so you'll need them!

What You Need:

* plastic sheeting
* duct tape
* emergency supplies
* radio

More How To's from your Guide To Little Rock, AR

[meow2u3]

28. Kinda reminds me of a playground rhyme from my childhood

For those old enough to remember the "Operation" jingle from the '60's, that's the tune you sing it to

Suffocation, this is suffocation
Suffocation, this is how you play:
First you take a plastic bag
Then you put it on your head
Go to bed
Wake up dead
in the morning
Suffocation, this was suffocation
Suffocation, that's the way you play

[Canuckistanian]

2. Someone died doing that duct tape trick

Think I saw it on Snopes....

[TommyO]

19. Kinda Sorta, not quite...

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/ducttape.asp

[meganmonkey]

3. Damnit this is all so absurd I can't even believe it's true

:banghead:

Is this real? Is this our country? Is this our leadership?

:rofl: :cry: :rofl: :freak: :rofl: :cry: :rofl: <--meganmonkey losing it

[rodeodance]

20. omg!! I just heard of this!!

[BrklynLiberal]

4. The inmates are running the Asylum....

[saigon68]

5. Inmates and a CHIMPANZEE

[gumby]

6. Fashionable replacement.

I fashioned my wardrobe (shortly after Paulison's statement) worn to a pro-peace demonstration out of "plastic sheeting" and "duct (quack-quack) tape."

Oh, wow, it's like a "What Not To Wear" moment. oochie-goochie

[Gregorian]

7. Duct tape and plastic might have saved the levee.

But it won't save Bush's hide.

It's becoming quite obvious that Bush is just playing president. It's a big game.

[Psephos]

8. All joking aside, he doesn't look bad from his resume

30 years experience as a firefighter, and he was part of the response to Hurricane Andrew and the ValuJet crash.

http://www.fema.gov/about/bios/paulison.shtm

I come from a family with generations of firefighters. I like seeing someone who's breathed a lot of smoke in emergency situations handling things.

The bit about the duct tape is easy to laugh at, but it's also the right thing to do in a gas attack. The Israelis did the same thing during the first Gulf War when Iraq was firing Scuds at them.

Peace.

[daleo]

31. None of those warheads had gas, so it didn't really matter in Israel

Duct-taping yourself in a room with no air for more than a short time would be a sure way to die. A human being uses up about 30 grams of oxygen per hour, and produces about the same amount of carbon dioxide. In a few hours the carbon dioxide buildup would be sure to kill you. It is possible that the poison gas would pass over in a fairly short period of time, and the duct taped room would work, if you timed things right. The trick would be in guessing where the gas was, and what its concentration was, at any given time. Many of these gases are not visible, and have no odor. So, I doubt that the duct tape room would help all that much.

[Psephos]

37. The Israeli response was correct, however

No one knew whether those Scuds had nerve gas warheads or not. Only one way to find out...and then it's too late to seal your room. Of course, I'd rather have a gas mask than duct tape. But then, I'd rather have a hazmat biodome instead of a gas mask. Etc., etc.

Meanwhile, you're wrong about sealing your doors and windows being a "sure way to die" from asphyxiation.

FEMA recommends floor space of 10 ft^2 (assuming 8' ceiling) to provide an adult with 5 hours of breathable air. Do the math and you'll see that even the smallest apartment (say, 500 ft^2) has enough air for four or five people for two days (assuming they're staying relatively inactive).

If you're interested in a more detailed explication of how to calculate the room space requirements, take a look at this web page:

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/eng99/eng99210.htm

Anyway, you don't need need two days of protection from a gas attack...more like an hour or two. As you acknowledged, poison gas disperses quickly, removing the need for the seal long before the room air gives out. Besides, most houses and apartments breathe through a variety of pores and intrusions. No home-rigged seal is going to provide absolute protection against poison gas coming in, or prevent the exchange of room 02 and CO2 with the outside. In poisoning, however, dose is everything. If your duct-tape seal job cuts the dose below the lethal threshold, you've just spent three dollars very wisely.

We're way off my main point, however, which is that people sitting safe at their keyboards in this thread laugh and laugh at a fireman with 30 years experience, including direct experience in Andrew and ValuJet, because he mentioned something considered standard first-line defense in civilian gas attacks. Apparently I'm the only one here who thinks this is an upgrade over the lawyer buffoon he is replacing.

I have my grandfather's fire helmet with its assistant chief's badge and its dents and its charred neck protector. Har har har. Died in a fire trying to save people. I mean, what kind of moran runs INTO a building on fire? Har har har. Now imagine such a fire-stooge named to head up emergency management. They're really scraping bottom this time, aren't they?

Peace.

[daleo]

48. Well I did a rough calculation based on O2 use of 30 gm per hour

And given an average sized room, I estimated that all the oxygen would be used up in about 30 hours, by one person. However, a person would die long before all the oxygen was used up, so I think that estimate is high. Four or five days certainly seems high to me, but mine was a rough estimate, so I don't know for sure.

It seems to me you are arguing the point both ways - the sealed room keeps the enough of the poison gas out to prevent death, but also lets enough carbon dioxide out and oxygen in to help sustain life. This may be, but the reverse might also be true. In any real life case, I think you would only know by running the experiment, which nobody would want to have happen.

I guess I would say that the duct tape and plastic idea is better than nothing, but a government should probably think a little harder about these things if it is serious. For example, during WWII all British citizens were supplied with a gas mask, according to my mom, who was there. I don't know how well that would have worked in practice, and fortunately Germany didn't use gas, so nobody ever had to find out.

I certainly have no objection to firemen, and agree that is a far better resume than watching horses jump, or whatever Brown did. However Bush's record of cronyism never inspires confidence.

[BlueStatesForever]

36. However, after 30 years of experience

...he actually came up with the duct tape idea. The man apparently never developed a logical mind in that 30 years.

David Duckie Paulison is likely just as incompetent as the rest.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

9. New FEMA head is the duct tape and plastic guy from 911

Get rid of one idiot, replace them with another -- No one safe in US

UPDATE 3-FEMA chief Brown resigns in wake of Katrina
Mon Sep 12, 2005 6:30 PM ET


In an apparent nod to demands that Brown be replaced by someone with experience in emergency response, President George W. Bush replaced Brown with David Paulison, a veteran firefighter who now runs FEMA's preparedness division.

Paulison was also the Homeland Security official who urged Americans to stock up on duct tape and plastic sheeting in 2003 to protect against a biological or chemical attack, a recommendation that was widely ridiculed in the media.

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2005-09-12T222951Z_01_N12496673_RTRIDST_0_KATRINA-FEMA-UPDATE-3-PICTURE.XML

Isn't this a perverse little turn of events?

[beam me up scottie]

10. Oh lovely...

I feel so much safer now...
:banghead:

[rodeodance]

25. me too (NOT)

[beam me up scottie]

30. So this guy will kill people just like Brownie did, but by suffocation ?

Just ducky.

[Cocoa]

11. duct tape is waterproof

it's good for levees in a pinch.

[Bumblebee]

12. I heard he has already been christened "the duct tape dude"

[yellowcanine]

13. To be fair if those NO residents had stocked up on duct tape and plastic

things might be working out pretty well for them now. :sarcasm:

[Tippy]

14. Oh no.....are there no competent repukes...

[slay]

15. Prolly cause he had stock in duct tape and plastics

:P

[LeahD]

16. Why am I not laughing? Supposed to be humorous, right?

Because it's so darn pathetic.

[Im_Your_Huckleberry]

17. just keeps gettin' better.

[yellowcanine]

18. Yep if you made up shit like this and put it in a book the editors would

say it was "unrealistic" and refuse to publish on those grounds.

[rodeodance]

21. lets see if the confirmation committee at least looks at his resume!! He

will have to go thru a confirmation process. Should be interesting!

[rodeodance]

22. nominate

[rodeodance]

23. "Americans would likely have to look after themselves."---not good folks

.......Paulison brings an extensive resume to the post. He ran fire operations for Miami-Dade County in Florida, and was past president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs. But in light of the response to this hurricane, another comment he made at the time of the Duct Tape announcements rings especially loudly. Paulison said in February, 2003, that in the first 48 to 72 hours of an emergency, many Americans would likely have to look after themselves.

As to the exit of Mr. Brown, who knows how many of the millions of Americans directly or indirectly touched by Hurricane Katrina probably had the identical thought when he quit his post this afternoon: Namely, that he was no doubt already updating his padded resume.

And his departure was not even unattended by confusion. In Brown’s statement, he wrote, “As I told the President, it is important that I leave now.” But when first asked about it during his tour of Mississippi, Mr. Bush said he had no details, hadn’t talked to Brown or Homeland Security chief Chertoff, and, “maybe you know something I don’t know.” Later, press secretary Scott McClellan said that the President had already known about the resignation — he just hadn't known that it had been made public.

And he was already just minutes away from naming Brown’s successor: Duct Tape Man.

[rodeodance]

24. kick

[tanyev]

26. Will Bush nickname him Duckie?

[daleo]

32. And everyone else is Lucky Duckie

Reference is to Tom Tomorrow comic strips.

[evworldeditor]

27. Oh... cool... I love Red Green!

White house finally got smart and appointed a Canadian, eh? That is who you're talking about, right?

;-)

[Pierogi_Pincher]

40. Is this the best they've got?...

Ooh boy. No one we know implemented the 'duck tape plan'.
Why is our COAST GUARD doing an outstanding job from the start? (Bravo and Brava!)

(I LOVE Red Green--our PBS station used to show episodes--dunno why not on anymore. "Bring back Red Green!") :bounce:

[Lochloosa]

29. Ok...who hired this guy..bush was suprised today that Brown had resigned

and they have someone to replace him already.....the administration has lost it completely.

[Mark E. Smith]

41. "I'm working. I'm on the move."

And work...it's hard,

[howmad1]

33. Bet Garrison Kielors' Duct Tape Council is thrilled.

[dchill]

34. Paulison is "Duct Tape Man" -

Man, I was crediting Tom Ridge with that Faux coup. It makes me wonder - did the Bushies think NOBODY would remember that, or did THEY just not remember that? Or, option C, who gives a shit...

[merci_me]

35. Geez, how much farther til we reach the bottom of the barrel? n/t

[IndyJones]

38. I was under the impression we already had.

[texpatriot2004]

39. Oh Yeah, "Duct Tape Man" what happens when

"Duct Tape Man" meets Aqua Man? Aqua Man obliterates "Duct Tape Man" maybe he would do better against the Kool-aid guy. Hey Kool-aid?

[buzzsaw_23]

42. Career Firefighter Named New FEMA Director

Career Firefighter Name New FEMA Director

Tuesday September 13, 2005 12:16 PM

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush has tapped a federal official with three decades of firefighting experience and a background in emergency management to be the new face of his administration's response to Hurricane Katrina and future natural disasters.

Bush on Monday said he would name Miami native R. David Paulison as acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, replacing Mike Brown. Brown resigned Monday after days of criticism over what some said was a slow and ineffective response to Hurricane Katrina's devastation.

Since December 2001, Paulison has led the U.S. Fire Administration, a division of FEMA and the Homeland Security Department that works to reduce life and economic losses caused by fire.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5274722,00.html

[LiberalinNC]

43. The Duct Tape Man takes over FEMA

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/12/fema.actingdirector/index.html

[nickinSTL]

44. maybe...but at least on paper

he has better credentials than Brown did.

[zbdent]

45. Despite the duct tape reference, maybe this is the guy who should

have been installed in the first place . . .

But I guess his check was smaller than Brown's was . . .

[symbolman]

46. I have a Flash Animation I made just for him

called "Duct Tape Theater", along with the music of the Dandy Warhols..

See it at Takebackthemedia.com and turn up those speakers :)

http://66.230.230.110/geeklog/public_html/staticpages/index.php?page=20040602184656622

[Barrett808]

47. Where's DucTapeFatwa?

S/he has the coolest handle.