Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
It gets worse
If you came here expecting humor, don’t waste your time. I’ll try to be funny later.
Feeling happy and peppy this delightful Sunday morning? Please, read this diary from Daily Kos. Highlights:
1. I talked to FEMA reps, RC reps, State Health reps and the hospital folks and received the same “we don’t need doctors or nurses to run clinics” (I’ve been placing medical teams)
Today at the Red Cross shelter, the doctor I traveled with…Dr. Ken Levine, was STILL seeing patients that ‘didn’t need him’ when I left at 7 p.m.
This is what bugs me. According to an email I received from the Feds, 33,000 docs have volunteered their services. There should be no shortage of medical care. What if we’re being kept out of the area thanks to dumb-ass mismanagement? But, wait! There’s more:
I have heard that a ‘BOBCAT’ is worth $1000/day paid by FEMA (us), flatbed trucks something like $500/day. Then it seems the contractors try to collect additional money from homeowners, many poor.
It doesn’t surprise me that this disaster is bringing out the worst in human nature. Yes, I realize it’s bringing out the best, too, but this is still heartbreaking.
The author of this diary asks that you contact the national media. Americans in my crowd, let’s take it one step further and contact our Representatives and Senators, too. I’ve posted links (to the right, at the top) that make it easier to send emails to these folks.
Another interesting peak at human nature:
According to a recent Rasmussen poll, dubya’s numbers have suffered thanks to his post-Katrina speech. Why?
The spending plan has not been well received by conservative voters–just 43% favor the huge federal commitment . . . while 37% are opposed.
Irony of ironies. Dubya’s in trouble: when he proposes that we throw giga$$ into the NOLA rebuilding effort, he loses support from his base of conservative Republicans (who doubtless don’t like the idea of that much money going to the poor) and fundamentalists (who reveled in NOLA’s destruction, considering it an act of God, a latter day redux of Sodom and Gomorrah). If he does nothing, he loses the rest of America.
Oh, those silly conservatives and fundamentalists. Chill, guys! Don’t you realize dubya wants to funnel that money into Halliburton & friends? And he’ll use the expense as an excuse for further social engineering in the form of cuts to evil programs (Medicaid, EPA, public education . . .)
That’s all for now, folks.
D.
Aw, man. I was just getting back to boring writing stuff and now I have to climb back onto my high horse.
Hey you’ve vanished. . .your picture doesn’t show up when I visit this blog.
Nay, he’s managed to push his sidebar to the bottom again by posting a pic that’s too large for the settings of his blog layout. I used that one, too, at first (though I changed the background and the header) and picked a different template after it messed with my pics. It seems pics pose less of a problem with the templates that don’t leave an empty space on the sides of the monitor.
Word of the day: buntuk 🙂
Hmm. Looks okay to me, folks. I wonder what happened.
Sorry about your horse, Kate. I feel the same way. Aiofe’s Kiss wants another story from me (I got one of those, “We’ll pass on this, but send us another” letters) but I just don’t have the spirit at the moment. Ach, maybe I’ll send them Cornucopia, the one about the writer who literally pulls a manuscript out of his ass.
Gabriele, how is your mom doing? I’ll go check your blog to see if you’ve posted anything.
Just a short update: they tried to wake her on Tuesday but she was very uncoordinated and trashed like mad (my father and I were there, no fun to watch) so they decided to put her back into that coma-like state. They’ve inserted a drainage for the liquor cerebrospinalis to have an outlet. Her intercranial pressure is normal now and constantly monitored, but since she has an intracerebrinal (?) hematoma, no one can tell us how things will end. A lung inflammation because of the respiratory equipment earlier this week could be treated easily, the damn bugger of a bacteria replied to standard antibiotics.
I’m sure there’s a very valid reason why FEMA doesn’t need Dr.s but the red cross Drs are over worked.
I’m sure there’s a reason why FEMA isn’t directing Drs to volunteer at Red Cross, or (if they are directing them there) why Red Cross isn’t taking advantage of the offers.
The reason may not make any sense to me, but there has to be one–There has to be, right?
X
Christine, the only thing that makes sense is gross incompetence.
Gabriele, I’m sorry to hear it. I hope you and your father are holding up okay.
Not to minimalize the problems that have occurred during the recent tragedy in Louisiana, but, when FEMA was here in Crescent City responding to the Gasquet fire there were similar situations. FEMA payed locals to use their equipment. However there is not always enough local equipment for the job so they pay people from all over to come and rent/operate their stuff. As it costs a lot to move heavy equipment and keep it onsite FEMA pays high amounts. I heard that some people run businesses that follow FEMA disasters and live off of these contracts. Yes, these rates are high but I am afraid this happens at every catastophe.
Interesting, Rae. FEMA attracts its own brand of parasitic worms?