View Full Version : FEMA Spends Millions on Puppet shows Months after Hurricane
Crazed Rabbit
10-09-2006, 17:41
Yup, good ole FEMA is at it again; wasting taxpayer's money. Months after last year's hurricanes have come and gone, FEMA has spent millions on 'crisis counseling' through a bunch of stupid activities - bingo, puppet shows, sing-a-longs, yoga, etc. to people who aren't even necessarily traumatised and haven't sought help.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-hope08oct08,0,3230053.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Some of it doesn't even make sense:
At the Pinitos Learning Center in Boca Raton, disaster workers dressed as "Windy Biggie" and "Sunny" teach 30 preschoolers a song about how the wind is good, even during a hurricane.
"Windy Biggie is our friend.
"Windy Biggie is strong wind.
"She turns, turns, turns, turns around.
"She's knocking things to the ground."
How are hurricane force winds our friend? Seems like a moronic thing to tell kids.
And, of course, they've treated their high paid, low qualified employees to perks such as a fancy lunch and playing games:
The job is stressful, Project H.O.P.E. officials say. Counselors regularly attend "stress management" sessions that have included collecting shells on the beach, "silly string and art therapy," and "the toilet paper game."
"This fun game has the team throwing toilet paper in an orderly fashion while additional rolls are constantly introduced," says a Project H.O.P.E. report.
All jobs are stressful, the only difference is that people with real jobs don't get to stop working and play whenever they feel like it.
Crazed Rabbit
Major Robert Dump
10-09-2006, 18:27
the best part about it is that, because of aid confidentiality policies, these people had a hard time even finding refugees to offer their services to, and in some cases only did it for tiny groups of people.
I'm all for huge, organized events to entertain displaced kids and counsel distraught families, but paying someone to travel around and "look" for refugess and then do a puppet show for 4 people is pretty f'in ridiculous.
btw, aid from the government, beit disaster or welfare or anything, should be public information. it is, after all, taxpayer money. I'm not down with this whole Hillary Clinton idea of "bringing dignity to people on welfare." What a great way to encourage fraud.
The obvious solution is an even bigger government beaurocracy to oversee FEMA. :dizzy2:
We should all be grateful that El Presidente has decreed that no law made by man (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/10/06/bush_cites_authority_to_bypass_fema_law/) can prevent him from staffing FEMA with underqualified cronies. Viva la revolucion!
To shield FEMA from cronyism, Congress established new job qualifications for the agency's director in last week's homeland security bill. The law says the president must nominate a candidate who has "a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management" and "not less than five years of executive leadership."
Bush signed the homeland-security bill on Wednesday morning. Then, hours later, he issued a signing statement saying he could ignore the new restrictions. Bush maintains that under his interpretation of the Constitution, the FEMA provision interfered with his power to make personnel decisions.
The law, Bush wrote, "purports to limit the qualifications of the pool of persons from whom the president may select the appointee in a manner that rules out a large portion of those persons best qualified by experience and knowledge to fill the office."
We should all be grateful that El Presidente has decreed that no law made by man (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/10/06/bush_cites_authority_to_bypass_fema_law/) can prevent him from staffing FEMA with underqualified cronies. Viva la revolucion!
Maybe Congress should fight back with the only Constitutional authority it seems to have left. Just cut off his funding. He can staff FEMA however he wants, he'll just have to pay the morons from his own pocket. Time for someone in the Capitol building to grow a pair. :help:
Crazed Rabbit
10-09-2006, 23:54
We should all be grateful that El Presidente has decreed that no law made by man (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/10/06/bush_cites_authority_to_bypass_fema_law/) can prevent him from staffing FEMA with underqualified cronies. Viva la revolucion!
To shield FEMA from cronyism, Congress established new job qualifications for the agency's director in last week's homeland security bill. The law says the president must nominate a candidate who has "a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management" and "not less than five years of executive leadership."
Bush signed the homeland-security bill on Wednesday morning. Then, hours later, he issued a signing statement saying he could ignore the new restrictions. Bush maintains that under his interpretation of the Constitution, the FEMA provision interfered with his power to make personnel decisions.
The law, Bush wrote, "purports to limit the qualifications of the pool of persons from whom the president may select the appointee in a manner that rules out a large portion of those persons best qualified by experience and knowledge to fill the office."
Eh? This doesn't really relate to the topic.
We're talking about the stupidity of government bureaucracy, not Bush. Please don't use this as an excuse to bash him.
Crazed Rabbit
My vote, FEMA should be gutted like a fish. It's budget and manpower are clearly more than it knows what to do with if it has millions to spend on puppet shows.
Eh? This doesn't really relate to the topic.
We're talking about the stupidity of government bureaucracy, not Bush.
I see a connection between rampant cronyism and bureucratic waste. Sorry it seemed unconnected and OT to you.
I see a connection between rampant cronyism and bureucratic waste. Sorry it seemed unconnected and OT to you.
Yeah, the Constitution can be really inconvenient sometimes huh? We should only keep the parts we like I guess. :dizzy2:
Or maybe a better idea, instead of passing obviously unconstitutional laws to look good, the Senate could actually do it's job... I dont remember any "he's not qualified" compaints from either side when the Senate approved Brown on a voice only vote. Besides, Paulison is well qualified- and a Democrat to boot... you should really like him.
Yeah, the Constitution can be really inconvenient sometimes huh? We should only keep the parts we like I guess.
So you're a big fan of Presidential signing statements that declare which parts of laws the Executive intends to obey. Very interesting.
As for Paulison, I have no opinion, since I've done no research on the guy. But thanks for telling me what my opinion ought to be. That's what friends are for.
yesdachi
10-10-2006, 15:55
FEMA = Lame
They should take everything FEMA and make a giant bonfire out of it, including the Windy Biggie costume (but not the person in it, although I am tempted, what kind of moron would even do that?) and then start over. Maybe with the evacuation plan my elementary school had for fires as a base to start with, at least that seemed to work and didn’t involve toilet paper games and costumed freaks.
In a slightly connected and funnier story, a film in the 1980s tried to get FEMA's advice on what to do in the event of a nuclear holocaust to add realism etc. They didn't have any.
So you're a big fan of Presidential signing statements that declare which parts of laws the Executive intends to obey. Very interesting.
If the President may properly decline to enforce a law, at least when it unconstitutionally encroaches on his powers, then it arguably follows that he may properly announce to Congress and to the public that he will not enforce a provision of an enactment he is signing. If so, then a signing statement that challenges what the President determines to be an unconstitutional encroachment on his power, or that announces the President's unwillingness to enforce (or willingness to litigate) such a provision, can be a valid and reasonable exercise of Presidential authority.Care to guess who's administration came up with that?
As for Paulison, I have no opinion, since I've done no research on the guy. But thanks for telling me what my opinion ought to be. That's what friends are for.Anytime pal. :knuddel:
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