Abolish FEMA Says US Senate

[skysummit]

Steve, I graduated from Central Lafourche!

[MGC]

The United States survived for 200+ years without FEMA and many other Federal agencies. Do we really need the EPA, FEMA, IRS, DOE...ect? We could reduce government by 75% not notice a thing. Life would be much easier IMO......MGC

[Ivanhater]

The United States survived for 200+ years without FEMA and many other Federal agencies. Do we really need the EPA, FEMA, IRS, DOE...ect? We could reduce government by 75% not notice a thing. Life would be much easier IMO......MGC

AMEN!

[SouthFloridawx]

The United States survived for 200+ years without FEMA and many other Federal agencies. Do we really need the EPA, FEMA, IRS, DOE...ect? We could reduce government by 75% not notice a thing. Life would be much easier IMO......MGC

AMEN!

I second that AMEN

[stormtruth]

The United States survived for 200+ years without FEMA and many other Federal agencies. Do we really need the EPA, FEMA, IRS, DOE...ect? We could reduce government by 75% not notice a thing. Life would be much easier IMO......MGC

Let's just git rid of the government and go crazy. Get rid of the EPA and let businesses build smoke stacks and nuclear power plants next to MGC's house!!

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

I agree with MGC...Also Nuclear power to power our city is not a bad idea.

[Jim Cantore]

They oughta let us run FEMA

[caribepr]

The United States survived for 200+ years without FEMA and many other Federal agencies. Do we really need the EPA, FEMA, IRS, DOE...ect? We could reduce government by 75% not notice a thing. Life would be much easier IMO......MGC

Just as a practical note on your comment. Things have changed in the US over the last 200 years, in case that's gone unnoticed. In disasters, people (who lived in the same place for their whole lives for the most part) gathered together to help each other out. Farming was a way of life, those not hit hard by whatever natural disaster happened, shared with each other. The populations were not the same. Transportation was not the same. Attitudes were not the same (I don't have my MTV for three days??? HORRORS) Up until, historically, not so long ago, life was lived VERY differently than it is now.
I have a friend here who is a FEMA employee. She is known to be a knock down kick ass go where no one else wants to go sort of person. She has been gone a YEAR dealing with the aftermath of many disasters in the states, Katrina for the most part. She is married and hasn't been home more than maybe 10 days until she finally said, I have to go home for awhile...hurricane season is starting soon and I need to rest. Her husband tells us all sorts of stories about the bad part of FEMA but Maria is one of the good parts and I know many hundreds of people are grateful for her and others like her. Yes, gov't agencies can become quagmires but they are made up of individuals, some good, some not so good. Let's not throw out the baby with the storm water without a little thought behind it.
Americans seem so willing to jump on a crusade for change...make it better NOW!! without taking time to think of the consequences. This, to me, is one of those instances...this is NOT your great-great-great grandfather's America.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Let's just git rid of the government and go crazy. Get rid of the EPA and let businesses build smoke stacks and nuclear power plants next to MGC's house!!

Must we make our rebuttals into personal attacks? Personally I wish we HAD more nuclear power... would make us a lot less dependent upon the OIL. Otherwise, can we stick to the issue. Personally, I concur with others who've said that dismantling one organization, only to build another would not only be an exercise in futility; it would probably create just another bureaucratic quagmire. FEMA came through for a lot of folks... and failed miserably for others... the simple fact is that the Katrina disaster was of a magnitude unprecidented since the organization's inception.

A2K

[Downdraft]

I really fail to see the point of more of the same about this. It wasn't just a totally bungled slow response by FEMA and Homeland Security. The whole concept of "pull-push" rather than "push-pull" when military assets are required in a incident of national significance needs further clarification also.
Personally, it escapes me how anyone can single just FEMA and the Feds out for the mess that was certainly exacerbated by incompetence at the local (city) and State (Governor's office) in Louisana.
The issue of FEMA being separated from Homeland Security is another matter and personally I think has a lot of merit.

[joseph01]

FEMA came through for a lot of folks... and failed miserably for others... the simple fact is that the Katrina disaster was of a magnitude unprecidented since the organization's inception. A2K

Sometimes I wonder if there is just too much expectation from governent agencies like FEMA. Fueled of coarse, by the overpoliticisation (is that a word?) of just about everything these days. It seems to me, that no matter how well organized, funded, or administered, it will fail to some extent, in a disaster like Katrina. The government can't possibly thwart all the problems in a disaster.

[Aquawind]

FEMA came through for a lot of folks... and failed miserably for others... the simple fact is that the Katrina disaster was of a magnitude unprecidented since the organization's inception. A2K

Sometimes I wonder if there is just too much expectation from governent agencies like FEMA. Fueled of coarse, by the overpoliticisation (is that a word?) of just about everything these days. It seems to me, that no matter how well organized, funded, or administered, it will fail to some extent, in a disaster like Katrina. The government can't possibly thwart all the problems in a disaster.

Well Said.. people definatley rely on them to much for everything at times and disasters like Katrina are always going to have some failures... However they decide to "fix" FEMA in all reality they just need to make a system that works..

[HurricaneBill]

I think one of the problems is that some people are too dependant on the government. I mean expecting the government to come to the rescue. Maybe it would help the government a little bit if we try to do what we can until they get there.

Communities still pull together during disasters. Compassion is still there when it really counts.

[Brent]

I think one of the problems is that some people are too dependant on the government. I mean expecting the government to come to the rescue. Maybe it would help the government a little bit if we try to do what we can until they get there.

[mobilebay]

I think one of the problems is that some people are too dependant on the government. I mean expecting the government to come to the rescue. Maybe it would help the government a little bit if we try to do what we can until they get there.

I think one of the problems is that some people have never
lost everything they owned and needed help. Government depends on me every check i get, why can't I expect help when I need it?

[GulfBreezer]

After IVAN, FEMA was a Godsend to all of us in this area...........it worked here like a well-oiled machine. They helped me personally and everyone I know. FEMA worked 24/7 with very few kinks in the system............I don't know what happened but I know that FEMA can work wonders.............is FEMA really to blame or just a scapegoat for ineptitude?

[jasons2k]

I think one of the problems is that some people are too dependant on the government. I mean expecting the government to come to the rescue. Maybe it would help the government a little bit if we try to do what we can until they get there.

I think one of the problems is that some people have never
lost everything they owned and needed help. Government depends on me every check i get, why can't I expect help when I need it?

That's exactly one reason why we should have less government and lower taxes.

My best friend on Galveston faced that very question of losing everything (at least materially) last September when Rita was on the way. And I can tell you the LAST thing on his mind was what would the Government do if he lost everything. He was much more concerned with boarding-up his windows, moving irreplaceables off the island, getting his insurance papers and finances in order, and then evacuating to shelter (my house), etc. 2 days before landfall he fully expected that come landfall, he would no longer have a house. He wasn't even slightly concerned with "where's my FEMA check?".

This may sound overly harsh and I'm not saying the government doesn't have a role in disaster recovery. But I am appalled at the number of people out there who do NOTHING to prepare for a disaster, not even carry insurance, and then expect the government to clothe them, feed them, house them (for some, indefinitely) - even though we are warned time and time again about the risks of living along the coast. And yet, thousands upon thousands of people in a mandatory evacuation don't leave, or if they stay, they don't stock-up on food, batteries, and water and then wonder day after why they don't have any fresh water to drink - and then blame the government for it. And the sad thing is that the more the government gives, the more people expect, to the point that personal responsibility ceases to exist. The end result, unfortunately, is a quasi-socialist oligarchy.

[canetracker]

After IVAN, FEMA was a Godsend to all of us in this area...........it worked here like a well-oiled machine. They helped me personally and everyone I know. FEMA worked 24/7 with very few kinks in the system............I don't know what happened but I know that FEMA can work wonders.............is FEMA really to blame or just a scapegoat for ineptitude?

FEMA is not perfect, but I am very thankful for them.
Personally I don't see FEMA as the total blame in what happened. Responsibility starts with the individual person and then works its way on up to various levels of government that we pay our taxes to.

[Air Force Met]

Let's just git rid of the government and go crazy. Get rid of the EPA and let businesses build smoke stacks and nuclear power plants next to MGC's house!!

Uhhh...they can build one next to my house if they want. It's safer and cleaner than anything else that makes electricity. It's better than burning coal...it's better than Natural gas...and it a lot better than daming a river.

75% of all the energy in France in on Nuke power...and a large part of the world is starting to head that way...like China. It's safe...especially with the newer technology that is much more efficient and produces very little waste.

Of course...most people think three-mile Island and Chernobyl when they think of nuke power. That's a shame...because most nuke engineers are environmentalists at heart and it really is the cleanist thing we have for power production...the problem is ignorance of the masses and fear of the unknown.

[x-y-no]

Of course...most people think three-mile Island and Chernobyl when they think of nuke power. That's a shame...because most nuke engineers are environmentalists at heart and it really is the cleanist thing we have for power production...the problem is ignorance of the masses and fear of the unknown.

And the odd thing is that people conflate the two.

Chernobyl was an unmitigated disaster, but Three Mile Island was a success. Containment functioned exactly as it was designed to do. Yet for some odd reason, TMI is offered as an argument against nuclear power. I never could make sense of that.