GOVERNMENT / THE ELITE - LOOKING GLASS NEWS | |
Clinton's Mythical FEMA |
|
by Jim Kouri The Federal Observer Entered into the database on Sunday, September 11th, 2005 @ 14:13:22 MST |
|
Senator Hillary Clinton is continuing the noble endeavor of revising
the record of her loving husband's eight years in the Oval Office, even if it
means exploiting Hurricane Katrina's devastation to do it. Senator Clinton creates
a mythical picture of FEMA under her husband's leadership and her comrades in
the mainstream news media run with it. While making the rounds of the network morning shows, she's been very hard
on the Federal Emergency Management Administration and, of course, the Bush
Administration. She went as far as complaining that Bush damaged "Bill's
FEMA." Naturally, the mainstream media are too lazy to investigate
her politically-charged exploitation of Katrina to not only revise her hubby's
legacy, but also to score brownie points as she eyes a 2008 presidential run. I'm giving the mainstream media the benefit of the doubt when I say
they're too lazy to investigate Hillary's bogus claim that FEMA was heaven on
earth when good old Bill was in-charge. One can make a case that the MSM want
to assist Senator Clinton in revising the Clinton Legacy while helping Hillary
with her upcoming presidential campaign. But, Madam Senator, what about
FEMA's response to Hurricane Floyd? You remember Floyd, don't you? On Sept. 15, 1999, Mother Nature poised herself to deliver the second in a
one-two punch combination of hurricanes to hit North Carolina. Earlier, Hurricane
Dennis jabbed once at the Carolina coast before doubling back and coming ashore
as Tropical Storm Dennis on Sept. 5, packing torrential rains and 70 mile-per-hour
winds. Then came the knockout punch—Hurricane Floyd—ten days later. Floyd was a large and intense Cape Verde hurricane that pounded the central
and northern Bahama islands, seriously threatened Florida, struck the coast
of North Carolina and moved up the United States east coast into New England.
It neared the threshold of category five intensity on the Saffir/Simpson Hurricane
Scale as it approached the Bahamas, and produced a flood disaster of immense
proportions in the eastern United States, particularly in North Carolina. There were 56 deaths that were directly attributable to Floyd. The death toll
by state is as follows: North Carolina 35, Pennsylvania 6, New Jersey 6, Virginia
3, Delaware 2, New York 2, Connecticut 1, and Vermont 1. Most of these deaths
were due to drowning in freshwater flooding. Floyd was the deadliest hurricane
in the United States since Agnes of 1972. According to information provided
to the Federal Emergency Management Administration, over 2 million people were
evacuated due to Floyd. This was probably the largest evacuation in US history.
And it was achieved by state and local government officials. (Hear that, Governor
Blanco?) FEMA didn't do much better under much less taxing conditions during
Floyd than it did during Hurricane Katrina, when the floods that followed Hurricane
Floyd left tens of thousands stranded up and down the Eastern seaboard wondering
what happened to federal rescuers. Where's Bill Clinton's FEMA? According to Newsmax.Com, Clinton FEMA Director James Lee Witt won high marks
for hurricane preparation, but the flood that followed swamped his agency. A
full three weeks after the storm had passed, Rev. Jesse Jackson interviewed
Witt on his CNN show "Both Sides Now" -- and complained that flood
victims were still suffering from a "misery index." "It seemed there was preparation for Hurricane Floyd, but then came Flood
Floyd," Jackson began. "Bridges are overwhelmed, levees (my emphasis)
are overwhelmed, whole town's under water (my emphasis). . . [it's] an awesome
scene of tragedy. So there's a great misery index in North Carolina." When Jackson asked what was being done for the thousands of families left homeless
by Floyd after nearly a month had passed since the storm first hit, Witt said
Bill's FEMA was "just beginning to address the problem." While Witt's reputation remained largely intact after the Floyd fiasco, more
than a few of the storm's thousands of flood victims complained that the agency
had failed them, according to Carl Limbacher of Newmax. Witt and Clinton were
so successful -- with the help of the MSM -- in escaping widespread criticism
in the aftermath of Hurricane Floyd, that Louisiana's competency-deficient Governor
Blanco appointed Witt to head her own emergency operations. The MSM breathlessly
announced the appointment and that was the last time anyone's heard about Bill
Clinton's FEMA boss. Another criticism by Hillary's comrades in the Democrat Party and by her pals
in the news media is that President Bush staffed FEMA with his cronies such
as Mike Brown. But no one in the memory-impaired news media appears to remember
Bill Clinton's cronies including Buddy Young. Raymond Lloyd "Buddy" Young was appointed FEMA's Director of Region
VI by President Clinton in 1993. As regional director, he coordinated FEMA mitigation,
preparedness and disaster response and recovery activities in: Arkansas, Louisiana,
New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. In 1997, he served as Acting Deputy Director
for the agency. Mr. Young is a veteran of 26 years of service for the Arkansas
State Police. He joined FEMA after serving as director of security for then-Governor
Bill Clinton, a post he had held since 1983. In other words, Young's experience
entailed covering for Bill during his alleged trysts. His education consists
of a certificate in public administration from the University of Arkansas. No
college degrees and no emergency management experience (unless his yelling,
"Bill, quick zip your fly. Hillary's coming!" constitutes managing
an emergency). Cronies? The Clintons were the king and queen of cronyism. Remember
their Chief of White House Personnel Security Craig "where the hell did
those FBI files come from" Livingstone? His security experience entailed
work as a bouncer at strip clubs and discos. I can only surmise why Bill Clinton
felt obligated to a man with those security credentials. |