I'm seeing posts all over that FEMA has been outsourced

[OregonBlue]

/privatized. Is this actually possible? If so, I think it spells the death knell for this group of hateful, money grubbing pigs who are running our country.

I keep wondering, are there no good Republicans left? Are there any that feel shame? Are there any that believe that there is such a thing as "enough money"? If so, please let me know so that I can ask them Where are your consciences? Where are your souls? or have you outsourced those too!

[nashville_brook]

1. here you go

this is a must-read:

Katrina shows neocon BRAVE NEW WORLD


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4534618


The neocon/conservative movement has been spouting the rhetoric of 'self-reliance' and 'local control' for a long time. These sound like positive terms, especially when government seems to interfere in people's personal lives. But these terms mean NOTHING when we are talking about a cataclysm like Katrina. Only a well-funded national government can even begin to handle a disaster like this.


While the working and middle-class Bush supporters heard 'self reliance' and 'local control' and thought it meant that the Feds couldn't dictate speed limits or tolerance education in school, the neocon power brokers REALLY meant 'government will no longer be there to serve your needs.' The power-neocons want to shrink government--or destroy it, as Paul Krugman said on NPR--and in doing so, destroy the functioning necessary for an advanced society.

[norml]

4. Brilliant

Katrina shows us the neocon brave new world.
The neocon/conservative movement has been spouting the rhetoric of "self-reliance" and "local control" for a long time. These sound like positive terms, especially when government seems to interfere in people's personal lives. But these terms mean NOTHING when we are talking about a cataclysm like Katrina. Only a well-funded national government can even begin to handle a disaster like this.


While the working and middle-class Bush supporters heard "self reliance" and "local control" and thought it meant that the Feds couldn't dictate speed limits or tolerance education in school, the neocon power brokers REALLY meant "government will no longer be there to serve your needs." The power-neocons want to shrink government--or destroy it, as Paul Krugman said on NPR--and in doing so, destroy the functioning necessary for an advanced society.

There are some things only the Public Sector can do on a consistent basis: disaster rescue and rebuilding, monitoring environmental problems, analyzing and approving medications---all public safety functions, in fact--because these things aren't profitable. They are done for the greater good, not the bottom line. The neocon mantra of replacing Public sector structures with Private sector (business, private charities) is just a pretense. Ultimately, private charities without public funding are limited in scope, and business runs purely on the profit motive, not an altruistic one. And even businesses don't have the resources or the interest in the public good that governments do. Wal Mart put up what--a million dollars? The estimates for Katrina are in the 10-13 BILLION dollar range. There is absolutely no comparison. When a government ceases to provide public safety and public works for its people, it can no longer function as an advanced society.

What Bush and the neocons are doing is dissolving the national public sector. Hence the cutting of funds from the Army Corps of Engineers project to plan and build stronger structures to protect the inhabitants of New Orleans. The message is, "The Federal Government will not help you--you are on your own."

Local municipalities do not have the funds to handle disasters of this magnitude. Even state coffers are not large enough. To blame the local governments is simply a PR strategy for the neocons in order to combat the media images.

The things that most people didn't realize is that the neocons meant what they said: smaller government--or, more bluntly, no government. This means that in everything from healthcare to engineering to relief from major disasters, Americans are on their own. And if they happen to die in flood waters because levees break, oh well.

Why do you think the neocons hawk religion--or their own particular brand of it? They know that replacement of the public sector is really not possible. So they encourage people to rely on God to deal with all their problems. In the end, if their city gets hit by a hurricane, the godly will blame either themselves (a common biblical behavior if you actually read scripture) or others (another common behavior). In either case, they won't blame the government.

So the long and the short of it is, we are finally seeing the neocon dream come to fruition--and it means that people die instead of live because the government is no longer available to organize and fund large scale human rescue and urban rebuilding operations. Welcome to the neocon nirvana--the rich get richer and the poor (and middle class) are left to fend for themselves.

[texpatriot2004]

6. Wow! That quote and that image...says it all eh? n/t

[chaska]

8. My god, that's brilliant! Put that everywhere.

post it all over DU. I'm taking it to my photobucket right now.

[cami715]

2. FEMA has been downsized

In March 2003, just after Michael Brown became head of FEMA, it was downgraded from a cabinet level position and made a part of Homeland Security. Its mission was changed and it was to focus on fighting acts of terrorism. I guess that is why the idiot in control(?) thought the first thing to do was to roll in the soldiers with guns to control the crowd.

Also in 2003, the preparation and planning functions of FEMA were reassigned to the Office of Preparedness and Response. Plus the head of FEMA had no previous experience in disaster management. I guess that is pretty obvious too!

Everything George Bush has done has resulted in failure and disaster. It is time for him, Cheney(if he is still alive), and Michael Brown to resign.

[OregonBlue]

3. What about the other post on DU

"A group in Florida wanted to volunteer to bring in 500 air boats to help in the rescue efforts.

FEMA "emphatically" refused. They said they had to CONTRACT OUT for that and couldn't use volunteers.

Republican Rep. Mark Foley just said that on MSNBC.

Can this be true? Are they outsourcing and then going to blame it on contractor?

[Roland99]

5. I think this is quite a stretch. Think of this:

FEMA needs to "certify" or at least do background checks on groups/organizations/individuals to be sure it's ok to even use them.

We wouldn't want a fake organization going in to help people only to find out they're scamming FEMA.

[OregonBlue]

7. Guess it's time to call Rep. Mark Foley

and find out just what he meant by the remark. Surely, they didn't actually outsource any of this work?