FEMA Made 1,000 Firefighters Take Sexual Harrassment Class While New Orleans Drowned

FEMA Made 1,000 Firefighters Take 'Sexual
Harrassment' Class While New Orleans Drowned
Salt Lake Tribune | September 8 2005

ATLANTA - Not long after some 1,000 firefighters sat down for eight hours of training, the whispering began: "What are we doing here?"
As New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin pleaded on national television for firefighters - his own are exhausted after working around the clock for a week - a battalion of highly trained men and women sat idle Sunday in a muggy Sheraton Hotel conference room in Atlanta.

Many of the firefighters, assembled from Utah and throughout the United States by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, thought they were going to be deployed as emergency workers.

Instead, they have learned they are going to be community-relations officers for FEMA, shuffled throughout the Gulf Coast region to disseminate fliers and a phone number: 1-800-621-FEMA.

On Monday, some firefighters stuck in the staging area at the Sheraton peeled off their FEMA-issued shirts and stuffed them in backpacks, saying they refuse to represent the federal agency.

Federal officials are unapologetic.

"I would go back and ask the firefighter to revisit his commitment to FEMA, to firefighting and to the citizens of this country," said FEMA spokeswoman Mary Hudak.

The firefighters - or at least the fire chiefs who assigned them to come to Atlanta - knew what the assignment would be, Hudak said.

"The initial call to action very specifically says we're looking for two-person fire teams to do community relations," she said. "So if there is a breakdown [in communication], it was likely in their own departments."

One fire chief from Texas agreed that the call was clear to work as community-relations officers. But he wonders why the 1,400 firefighters FEMA attracted to Atlanta aren't being put to better use. He also questioned why the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - of which FEMA is a part - has not responded better to the disaster.

The firefighters, several of whom are from Utah, were told to bring backpacks, sleeping bags, first-aid kits and Meals Ready to Eat. They were told to prepare for "austere conditions." Many of them came with awkward fire gear and expected to wade in floodwaters, sift through rubble and save lives.

"They've got people here who are search-and-rescue certified, paramedics, haz-mat certified," said a Texas firefighter. "We're sitting in here having a sexual-harassment class while there are still [victims] in Louisiana who haven't been contacted yet."

The firefighter, who has encouraged his superiors back home not to send any more volunteers for now, declined to give his name because FEMA has warned them not to talk to reporters.
On Monday, two firefighters from South Jordan and two from Layton headed for San Antonio to help hurricane evacuees there. Four firefighters from Roy awaited their marching orders, crossing their fingers that they would get to do rescue and recovery work, rather than paperwork.

"A lot of people are bickering because there are rumors they'll just be handing out fliers," said Roy firefighter Logan Layne, adding that his squad hopes to be in the thick of the action. "But we'll do anything. We'll do whatever they need us to do."

While FEMA's community-relations job may be an important one - displaced hurricane victims need basic services and a variety of resources - it may be a job best suited for someone else, say firefighters assembled at the Sheraton.
"It's a misallocation of resources. Completely," said the Texas firefighter.
"It's just an under-utilization of very talented people," said South Salt Lake Fire Chief Steve Foote, who sent a team of firefighters to Atlanta. "I was hoping once they saw the level of people . . . they would shift gears a little bit."
Foote said his crews would be better used doing the jobs they are trained to do.
But Louis H. Botta, a coordinating officer for FEMA, said sending out firefighters on community relations makes sense. They already have had background checks and meet the qualifications to be sworn as a federal employee. They have medical training that will prove invaluable as they come across hurricane victims in the field.

A firefighter from California said he feels ill prepared to even carry out the job FEMA has assigned him. In the field, Hurricane Katrina victims will approach him with questions about everything from insurance claims to financial assistance.

"My only answer to them is, '1-800-621-FEMA,' " he said. "I'm not used to not being in the know."

Roy Fire Chief Jon Ritchie said his crews would be a "little frustrated" if they were assigned to hand out phone numbers at an evacuee center in Texas rather than find and treat victims of the disaster.

Also of concern to some of the firefighters is the cost borne by their municipalities in the wake of their absence. Cities are picking up the tab to fill the firefighters' vacancies while they work 30 days for the federal government.
"There are all of these guys with all of this training and we're sending them out to hand out a phone number," an Oregon firefighter said. "They [the hurricane victims] are screaming for help and this day [of FEMA training] was a waste."
Firefighters say they want to brave the heat, the debris-littered roads, the poisonous cottonmouth snakes and fire ants and travel into pockets of Louisiana where many people have yet to receive emergency aid.

But as specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew's first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas.

FEMA: Corrupt, Negligent, Criminal and In Charge


Steve Watson | September 8 2005

FEMA is not an elected body, it does not involve itself in public disclosures, and it even has a quasi-secret budget in the billions of dollars. It has more power than the President of the United States or the Congress.

It has the power to suspend laws, move entire populations, arrest and detain citizens without a warrant and hold them without trial, it can seize property, food supplies, transportation systems, and can suspend the Constitution. Not only is it the most powerful entity in the United States, but it was not even created under Constitutional law by the Congress.

We have exposed how in the aftermath of Katrina, FEMA has cut emergency communication lines and has been turning back fuel and water supplies. Even American Red Cross officials have said that FEMA authorities would not allow them to deliver aid.

Former FEMA officials have admitted that Government disaster officials had an action plan if a major hurricane hit New Orleans. They simply didn't execute it when Hurricane Katrina struck.

Furthermore, as the Florida Sun Sentinel has reported, Training for FEMA inspectors is often brief and and poor.

"With an investment of eight hours one Monday in early October, Johanna Hadik of Margate got a badge and the next day was out inspecting hurricane damage for the federal government."

FEMA also acknowledges a long history of fraud in disaster aid by applicants who call it "Christmas money" or "free money" and by inspectors who are supposed to prevent it. These inspectors consistently simply turn a blind eye because often enough they are reaping the benefits.

The Sentinel has also reported on the fact that FEMA employs as inspectors known criminals with records for embezzlement, drug dealing and robbery. These people are entrusted to enter disaster victims' homes and verify damage claims, with their histories, is it any wonder that there is consistent fraud?

http://www.prisonplanet.com/Pictures..._criminals.jpg

One such inspector with a criminal record stated, "We're not all bad because we have criminal histories...We're just the only ones they can get who will do this."

How is it that people with criminal records are being employed by the government to manage the aftermath of disasters?

The fact is that those that are really in charge of FEMA are there through political patronage and have no ability to do the job they are supposed to.

"FEMA is widely viewed as a 'dumping ground,' a turkey farm, if you will, where large numbers of positions exist that can be conveniently and quietly filled by political appointment," the preliminary report said. "This has led to a situation where top officials, having little or no experience in disaster or emergency management, are creating substantial morale problems among careerists and professionals. "



The agency is corrupt from top to bottom, consider the aftermath of Hurricane Frances in 2004:

As Hurricane Frances made landfall 100 miles north of Miami-Dade County in September, a top official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency declared the county a major disaster area with no evidence of damage and contrary to a presidential order.

That decision allowed more than 12,000 Miami-Dade residents, many with minimal or no damage, to collect $31 million and brought unprecedented scrutiny to the federal disaster aid program. - Knight Ridder Newspapers

Also in 2004, up the Gulf Coast, FEMA was involved in a mock drill called Hurricane Pam, in which a hurricane with 120 mph winds topped the levies of New Orleans. FEMA's chief representative at the drill was its regional director at the time, Ron Castleman.

Castleman, had also been "promoted" to FEMA's top brass after serving as chief administrative officer for the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign.

When the very real Hurricane Katrina struck last month, Castleman had already moved on to a job in the private sector. Castleman has stated that the action plan for such an event was definitely NOT implemented after Katrina.

Why conduct drills of the levies breaking and then not implement the action plan when it actually happens? No one is that incompetent. AP has reported that current FEMA chief Michael Brown waited until hours after Hurricane Katrina had already struck the Gulf Coast before doing anything.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/Pictures...ief_vmed6p.jpg

There can be no excuse of "we didn't see it coming" this time around, FEMA is criminally negligent.

Yet as the reaction of Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard shows, FEMA will be rewarded with more funding and it will gain more authority. Brousaard wept as he asserted that FEMA has deliberately withheld aid and cut communication lines but in the same breath he stated that FEMA needs to be given the funding and power to do better job. withholding aid and cutting communication lines is not "doing a bad job" it is intentionally doing the opposite of what they are supposed to be doing.

Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Regan, Paul Craig Roberts has stated that FEMA have made the crisis look worse in order to empower the image of a police state emerging to "save the day". He even insinuated that the shoot to kill policy was part of the overall operation in order get an awful precedence set to aid the military industrial complex takeover of America.

"The power of the Federal Government is now greater than at any time, it'll never go back and the Posse Comitatus Act has been eroding ever since it was passed in 1878..."



FEMA is actively sabotaging the relief effort in New Orleans. Why would they do this? Because FEMA is made up at the lower levels of petty criminals and people with no training, whilst the elite infiltrators of the Federal Government watch on from afar, in control of everything, answering to no one and getting fat off the profits of their own corrupt inactivity which brought about the situation in the first instance. They like it that way, it suits them down to the ground, why should they do anything to improve the situation?








Related:

FEMA Deliberately Sabotaging Hurricane Relief Efforts

FEMA Executive Orders Paved The Way For Emerging Police State Hell

Government Sabotage Of Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts


FEMA Chief Waited Until After Storm Hit

Bush visit halted 3 tons of food being delivered

Raw Story | September 8 2005

Three tons of food ready for delivery by air to refugees in St. Bernard Parish and on Algiers Point sat on the Crescent City Connection bridge Friday afternoon as air traffic was halted because of President Bushâ??s visit to New Orleans, officials said, NOLA.com reports Wednesday on the news blog...MORE....

The provisions, secured by U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville, and state Agriculture Commissioner Bob Odom, baked in the afternoon sun as Bush surveyed damage across southeast Louisiana five days after Katrina made landfall as a Category 4 storm, said Melanconâ??s chief of staff, Casey Oâ??Shea.

â??We had arrangements to airlift food by helicopter to these folks, and now the food is sitting in trucks because they wonâ??t let helicopters fly,â?� Oâ??Shea said Friday afternoon.

The food was expected to be in the hands of storm survivors after the president left the devastated region Friday night, he said.

didn't mean to post this here...

FEMA Still Blocking Firefighters and Police From Entering New Orleans

LA Times/Scott Gold, Julie Cart and Stephen Braun | September 8 2005

Comment: Another example of FEMA sabotage to add to the catalogue of criminal actions that this website has been tracking.

Related: FEMA Deliberately Sabotaging Hurricane Relief Efforts

Related: Government Sabotage Of Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts

Michael D. Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency â?? who is under fire for the agency's slow response to the flooding â?? said Wednesday that scores of police and volunteer firefighters from around the nation, as well as trucks loaded with donated water, were even now being prevented from entering New Orleans while troops conduct house-to-house searches.

"They can't just yet," Brown said during a briefing in Baton Rouge. "There is going to come this natural time when we will release this floodgate of cops and firefighters who want to help. It's the same for anyone who wants to volunteer â?? we have over 50,000 offers of donations from the private sector. It has to be coordinated in such a way that it helps."

Numerous state and local officials in Louisiana have accused FEMA of making the situation worse with red tape and a hesitant response immediately after Katrina slammed into the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

"I'm asking Congress, please don't send any more money to FEMA," said Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), a staunch critic of the agency. "Send it directly to the local officials." But White House officials said $50 billion of the new aid package, supplementing $10.5 billion approved last week, would be routed to FEMA.

Ripples from the flooding, which left as many as 1 million people homeless and untold numbers dead, continued to shake the nation's economy. Louisiana emergency officials said Wednesday that the disaster could cost the state at least $100 billion. And the Congressional Budget Office predicted 400,000 jobs would be lost through the end of the year, with privately insured losses topping $30 billion.

So thats what took so long to help the American people In new orleans

yeah, you guys take this class while we go out and cut the communication lines, thereby nipping in the bud any hope for a real local recovery mobilization, block food and water from getting in from walmart and others...

then the feds can blame the local governments, use their controlled to demonize themselves and spin thoughts toward a commission, create a commission to give fema more power and control...when it was their control in the first place that was deliberately done to create a bigger disaster. as is usually the case with the feds.

but good for fema with already infinite power, now fema can federalize more regions...the feds have flown them all over the country, and we all know what happens when the feds give states money...i think we need less states' rights anyway.

those founders were stupid...everything they said is coming true though.