The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    I'm Here Today To Save The Romney Campaign From Itself

    By DF on Tue, 10/30/2012 - 2:52pm | Politics

    Against my better judgment and my general belief that the cake of this unrelenting election cycle has long been baked, I'm going to give Willard Mitt "I'd Shut Down FEMA" Romney a bit of advice, 100% gratis.  Mitt Romney should spend the next week using his leadership, connections, management skills and even his own personal fortune to demonstrate exactly why he should be President by organizing a private relief effort for victims of Hurricane Sandy.

    Doing so would be so full of positives and so bereft of negatives that it's a no-brainer.  It's an opportunity to get credit for not campaigning, but actually still campaigning, that doesn't look as stupid as what he did today.  It would be an opportunity to prove that conservative ideology with respect for downsizing or eliminating agencies like FEMA is both feasible and beneficial.  It would also be an opportunity to provide direct relief to those in need, which should appeal to him as a Christian and perhaps even as an Earthling.  Finally, even as a political play, it would demonstrate both that he is who he says he is and that he can provide leadership that yields real results for Americans in need.

    However, he probably won't do that.  He'll probably keep doing things like merely re-labeling his already scheduled campaign events in battleground states and refusing to answer questions in the wake of a hurricane about whether he'd really shut down FEMA and leave relief up to the states and private sector.  No wonder this thing is so close!

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    Wait a minute now; Mitt Romney is an earthling?

    I am going to Google this and get back to you!


    by Richard Day on Tue, 10/30/2012 - 4:10pm

    Romney comments from last year that we can't afford FEMA, and it's best to:

    "send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better."

    DMAT (Disaster Medical Assistance Team) manual there are three levels of disasters, simple, extended and complex. The complex one can knock out a whole state's resources and personnel. That is why you need a federal response:

    A complex disaster is one in which the governmental and public services infrastructure is completely significantly damaged and becomes non-functional......During the chronic -acute phase the threat of the disaster has just passed. The population is just beginning to see the results of the disaster and its effect on their community. It is during this time that state and federal agencies will begin their evaluation of the disaster area to assess the damage and plan the magnitude of response. Local rescuers and public service personnel, who have been functioning under high levels of stress for a number of days, begin to lose their "adrenaline rush" and lose momentum in their rescue efforts. Some of these rescuers may be victims themselves and may have been unable to check on their homes and families.......

    On the NPR show this AM a caller from Iowa said he say train loads of 'cherry picker' cranes for use in restoring power lines moving east last week. He said somebody was getting ready, likely through action of FEMA. In a huge multi-state disaster like Sandy you must go federal to get equipment and people from a distance. That is what good government is, that is what Democrats provide, and what Republicans do not understand or even care about.


    by NCD on Tue, 10/30/2012 - 5:40pm

    What a good example of the difference. I have been afraid and more then halfway expecting that this storm would play to Romney's benefit in the election. So far, though, and not to be cold bloodily cynical about the tremendous hurt that has been done, it looks like something which might make the difference both obvious to some who don't already know it, but also the magnitude of the benefit of having a President on the right side of that difference.

    I strongly hope that Obama wins but I haven't changed my conviction that on a few issues of great importance he is still only relatively better by being the lesser of two evils.


    by A Guy Called LULU on Tue, 10/30/2012 - 6:14pm

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=o6GQr8m5cOY


    by A Guy Called LULU on Tue, 10/30/2012 - 7:56pm