Towns Destroyed Don’t Qualify For Help From FEMA – Government RANT

Last night the house shook from the storms, it rained so hard the gutters couldn’t keep up. I was out at 2am on the front porch watching the torrential rain coming down, you couldn’t see more than 10 feet because of how hard it was raining and I watched the storm and was thankful there weren’t any tornados.

Unfortunately tornadoes took life last night, 5 dead in Oklahoma, over 100 tornadoes reported, wow. I hope everybody is ok in the affected areas and I hope this time FEMA doesn’t deny help to areas that need it like they have been doing recently in Illinois.

Apparently “the impact of the February storms failed to meet the criteria for granting aid”. I’m left with my jaw on the floor, I’m sorry, the utter destruction of your neighborhoods doesn’t meet the criteria of FEMA, it sickens me that the very Government that wants to intrude into every aspect of our lives will tell towns completely destroyed by Tornadoes we will not be there to help you because it doesn’t meet our criteria, disgusting and pathetic but par for the course.

Try and figure this out, this area didn’t meet the criteria for help, utter devastation doesn’t qualify?!

   

Where is the public outcry? FEMA was late to Katrina and the outcry continues today, several towns in several states are denied help and I have heard nothing but some local news complaints. Why is this ok?

Lane County Oregon, January flooding, again, utter devastation but sorry Charlie no help because your utter devastation doesn’t meet our criteria. “Some Government agencies can get up to 75% of their expenses” but FEMA actually counts the amount of houses destroyed and if it’s one less than their magical number then they deny the help to the people affected. So the local Government agencies can get help, but not the people??

Only a Government agency can have a magic number that has to be met before it helps a single person be it local or Federal, neither gives a crap unless enough have died or enough have lost everything. Only a Government agency can be that cold and uncaring and we are going to let this same Government decide who qualifies for “their” Healthcare in 2 years, this same Government is going to dictate/mandate who will be forced to pay for it. Over 40% of American’s don’t pay taxes but through the “Earned Income Credit” they are guaranteed a decent sized Tax refund! We actually reward people for making little to no money! You just can’t make this stuff up!

Only the same people in Government who voted for the Healthcare reform before reading the bill and then told us to our faces its what's best for us but THEY get to pick from over 250 PRIVATE plans, only people who don’t have to use what they are shoving down our throats could sign something into law without reading it! Yet a decent amount of the population are willing to agree without reading it themselves so how can I expect them to know any better? Have YOU read the healthcare reform law? I have, it scares the hell out of me and these same people are in charge of the money that FEMA has access to, they have decided that utter destruction is NOT enough to help because it was not “enough” utter destruction. Again, only Government can be this insane. I could start another rant on Insurance companies but there is a distinct difference, we are in charge of how much and what's covered by our insurance company, we have zero control over what FEMA does.

Don’t get me wrong, there is problems with Healthcare but the main problems are Government!! One of the things they claimed was missing was competition, guess who blocked competition? Government! Plans couldn’t be the same across state lines, politicians would fight for differences that they felt would get them local votes and then these same politicians out of the other side of their mouth would complain about the very things they voted for!! Utterly frustrating! Everybody blames the insurance companies but they are restricted by the very regulations Government mandates they follow! Government claims there is no competition, well remove the blocks that disallow competition and guess what, it will happen!

Healthcare needs fixing but to expect the very Government that convoluted the regulations and rules to the very point where they couldn’t compete is ludicrous! How can any person who has dealt with any Government agency honestly believe Government is the answer to Healthcare??? Did you know that in the last three years alone there are over 18,000 new Government regulations!!! Somebody tell me who has time to write that many regulations and how on Earth are that many new ones needed?!?!?

I’m off on a tangent now I know and I’m going to continue since I’m on a roll. I am sick to death that we now live in a time where we “EXPECT” the Government to be into everything because we are losing the ability to care for ourselves. The entitlement society is killing European countries like a sickness and we are doing everything we can to follow in their path, Greece should be enough to warn us but we won’t pay attention. One look at OWS should be enough to tell that we now want everything handed to us on a platter. Free this, free that all paid for by the Government, somebody should point out to the children in OWS that Government has NO MONEY! The only money Government has is what it TAXES from their parents and the rest of us so every time they want another entitlement we PAY FOR IT!!!

Explain to me how are the OWS protestors, equipped with their iPad’s, iPhones, MacBook Pro’s and other expensive electronics the down trodden? These spoiled brats went to college, not all of course but a good portion of them have and they now expect that to be free! We tell the last few generation of kids that they are so special and unique and spoil them beyond belief and are shocked that there are narcissists in huge numbers running around wanting everything for free for them? First day out of school they should be making 100k, driving a Mercedes and living in a 4,000sq ft house. What has happened to working your way up? Hey, working your way up is so old fashioned! Today we are all special and deserve everything right now!

Ok, lets say we make education completely free (from their perspective) from 1st grade to College graduation, how many schools are losing programs because they claim to not have enough money? The more money we throw at education the less they seem to have. Spending in Chicago is through the roof and guess what, it all goes to school administration and unions! How much makes it to teaching kids? Disgusting. The answer, more money of course, what, did you think accountability for their budgets and insuring that kids can read and write was the agenda? Silly you! The very last thing on the agenda is making sure the kids can read, write and do basic math. I watched a union video of how they were handling the budget, nothing was mentioned about the students doing better, teachers doing better, nothing. The main discussion is keeping budget money coming for pensions and teacher and union benefits.

Many teachers would bring the students up, they were talked over by union reps. I feel sorry for teachers, I know a few and they are great people who want the best for the kids. But the kids aren’t part of the agenda, look at graduation numbers for Chicago, embarrassing considering the schools thought they were at 90%. Some schools were doing better which is great but when you can fudge the formula to show better stats I wouldn’t trust the Chicago school systems numbers if you paid me. I know I’m all over here but if you’re still reading, there is more.

The Republicans tell us that the entitlement “Social Security” should be reduced and people should work longer. Since WHEN is Social Security an entitlement since it’s funded purely from our paychecks!! Work longer? Since when does ANYBODY tell us how long we should work?!? Bite me! If I could retire at 60 and be able to afford a decent lifestyle then that’s my decision, if I decide to retire at 40 that’s my choice! I know they are talking about retiring and collecting Social Security benefits but they really believe we should work until we can no longer physically do so.

Democrats and Republicans don’t have to worry about their retirement, it’s fully tax payer funded, they don’t have to worry about their Healthcare, it’s fully private and fully funded by tax payers. Yet these same politicians want PUBLIC Healthcare for the rest of us, not a single politician will have to use the very system they are going to shove down our throats, not one! Doesn’t that alarm you just a little bit? You ok with going on the Government system and trusting it to care for you?

My wife works for an Oncology doctor, her office has to deal with the Government for Medicare payments and guess what, it’s a NIGHTMERE!! The Government pays pennies on the dollar no matter what is billed which causes prices to go up elsewhere to make up for it and guess what, this same Government is going to be in charge of your Healthcare, no thanks!!

So people, explain to me why we want to hand over control of the Healthcare system to a Government clearly not even capable of buying a toilet seat for under $300.00?? A Government that has 40% of Americans on food stamps and no program to help these people get off off the Government dole? A Government where they help only if enough people die or a specific number of houses have to be destroyed before they help but hey, at least the local Government agencies will get help, not that the citizenry deserves it!!

Now don’t get me wrong, we are supposed to have local Government and State Government that is supposed to have emergency funds for help, also our Insurance agencies are supposed to help but guess where all of these agencies (except for the insurance company, but that’s a different post) turn to for the funds? The Federal Government of course! Where does the Federal Government get money from? CHINA!! How long do you really think China will continue to buy our debt, I mean really, how much longer can China afford to buy our debt and ask yourself why do they continue to do so? To help us? Of course not! The end result is China will someday decide they will no longer do so, guess what happens then.

I apologize for turning this post into a personal political rant but the Government has decided that the Constitution doesn’t matter anymore and that’s dangerous and I need to vent. We have a President who has given a speech that stated that the American individual is incapable of caring for themselves without his help. We have a President who stated very clearly that energy under his administration would necessarily have to sky rocket and they have. Gas is 100% higher now than it was when he took office, he claims we are drilling like crazy, we are not and algae is NOT an answer. We have a President who has stated that the Free Market has failed and only he can fix everything by spending Trillions of dollars of money we don’t have and while our problems most certainly started before the current administration came on board the current administration has no wish to do anything about it as long as they have enough support to continue.

Joe Biden said we have to spend our way out of it, that doesn’t work for a family, using credit to fund everything does what exactly, well, it gets you over 15 trillion in debt is what it does and as long as we have people running the show believing that everything is fine we’ll just continue to spend our way through it, the problem will just get worse. President Bush spent too much but President Obama makes Bush look like a beginner, he has out spent every previous President ever combined and people want him to have another 4 years.

Explain to me how a President with no chance of a third term will hold back when he didn’t hold back knowing he would have to run for a 2nd term. If and when he wins the second term there will be nothing to hold him back from his agenda. He told Russia that they need to wait until he wins the election and he’ll have more flexibility, to give him space until after the election. What absolute gall! President Obama has dropped missile defense for Poland and the Czech Republic and we were silent. Putin wins a corrupt election and where is Obama’s outcry for it? He called Putin after he won the “open election” and congratulated him. Putin has Medvedev change the Constitution so Putin can run for election. Why would a US President congratulate him for winning such an election? I think if Obama could, he would amend ours so he could get a third term, I really do and who knows, maybe that is part of the agenda if he gets re-elected, we’ll see. 

Getting back to the original topic, later this week we’ll hear once again how the local communities once again did not meet the criteria for help from FEMA and these people will be stuck asking for help from the very agencies that require federal dollars to help, meaning that many people will lose everything and the outcry will be silence. There will be some local news that complains but the administration will do nothing and nobody will ask them why.

We basically have a two party system, both parties are broken. I wish I knew what could be done to rip out the corruption and the cronyism and the belief that they are above everything so they can do as they wish all the while telling us its for our own good and we like idiots keep voting the same people in because they tell us what we want to hear.

We have had a few tell us what we “should hear” and we quickly weed them out because hey, the truth is we don’t want the truth, period. We want the hope and change without any real hope and zero change. I don’t know what else to say because I have zero answers…. it would just be nice to hear that some people are actually helped by the agencies built to do so, but I won’t hold my breath.

EDIT: Anonymous #2 brought up some very valid points in the comments section. I agree with much of what he/she said however the corruption mentioned in the comment is in the Red Cross and other organizations so it isn't just FEMA that has rampant corruption. I do believe I have a lot to learn about this topic because I have been lucky enough to not have been through the loss of my home so it's easy to arm chair quarterback and I don't believe my opinion is the end all be all I learn something new everyday so my opinion may change.

One thing that will never change is my belief that Government isn't that answer and never will be. They prove every day why they are not the answer so maybe I learned something today, why expect FEMA to step in when they're just acting like a typical Government agency? Sometimes the answer is right in front of you so thanks to Anonymous # 2 for helping me think this through.