FEMA and the Tea Party: Those Limited Government Blues

(Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com)

by Nomad

I

n March of this year, when The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) denied requests for disaster relief from two Illinois towns that had been devastated by a February 29 tornado, no doubt many residents were mighty sore at such lack of empathy from Washington.

FEMA had determined that homeowner's insurance, local charities and state funds could cover those requests. It also noted that according to their analysts, the damage to Harrisburg and Ridgeway did not measure up to requirements for federal assistance. (Photos suggested otherwise.)

Until It Happens to You

The tornado that struck southern Illinois was one of the most powerful twisters in recent decades. With 170-mph winds, the twister killed seven people in the small town of Harrisburg, and damaged or leveled hundreds of buildings.

This kind of disaster is impossible to guard adequately against, especially in terms of property. One minute your life is stable, comfortable and happy and, ten minutes later, the pointy finger of God drags his fingernail through your happy town and leaves you sitting amid broken walls and miles of debris. Of course, if it has never happened to you, to your community, then it would be hard to understand how traumatic it is.

Evangelical Religion’s War on Common Sense

by Nomad

Hostility and Antipathy

During their failed runs for the Republican nomination in this year’s presidential election, GOP candidates such as Gingrich and Santorum, made the shocking claim that Obama was waging a war on religion. That sort of nonsense might play well to the average Fox News watchers who seem to be fully prepared to swallow any anti-Obama rhetoric, no matter how preposterous.

Naturally this meme was picked up by conservative religious leaders, eager to make a name for their crusade against the evils of secularism and the horrors of the separation of Church and State.

As Mother Jones reports:

Gary Marx, the executive director of Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition, sent out a fundraising letter this month urging people to sign a petition fighting Obama's "war on religion," writing: "The Obama Administration's actions are evidence of a pattern of hostility towards religious institutions and an antipathy to uphold and protect the nation's most fundamental founding principles."

Despite showing precious little in the way of evidence of Obama's hostility, apart from not taking orders from the Church, people like Marx are allowed to promote this claim without anybody challenging them. 

Tornadoes and Koch Industries: An Elegant Solution

by Nomad

On one hand, we have the Tea Party demanding less government, except in an emergency, and on the other hand, we have the Koch Brothers- who've spent a fortune trying to undermine climate change legislation. Why not unite these two and cut out the middle man? That's the taxpayers. I'm just surprised nobody thought of this solution before.

(originally posted in April 2011 at Nomadic View blog)

A Declaration of Emergency

On April 28th, 2011, tornadoes swept through the south of the United States, killing 128 people in Alabama and 32 others in Mississippi and leaving long trails of destruction. Homes and businesses were left as piles of rubble. Towns were plowed down the middle and many residents, having lost all they owned, felt lucky just to be alive. My sympathies went out to the survivors and my condolences to the families that have lost loved ones.

This all came after a week in which storms torn through a half a dozen states in what meteorologists have called the deadliest season in nearly four decades. Republican Governor Robert Bentley of Alabama declared a state of emergency and said he was deploying 2,000 National Guardsman.

Similarly, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour declared a state of emergency for 39 counties. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families who lost loved ones or property in these devastating spring storms,” Gov. Barbour said. “A large section of our state has been impacted, and our emergency responders are doing an excellent job in helping communities. This State of Emergency declaration will allow the state to offer aid to begin recovery efforts.”

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency coordinates with the Federal emergency Management Agency, better known as FEMA in administering disaster recovery. Federal sources contributes at least 75% of damage repair costs while while state and local entities share the remaining 25 percent or less of repair costs.

Nobody can blame the governor for requesting money when it is urgently needed. However, there's a ugly, hypocritical side to Barbour's requests. Like numerous Republican politicians of late, Gov. Haley Barbour last March chastised Obama for "limitless government" and out of control spending. His stand against Big Government has made him something of a "politician of note" in the Republican party.