I know, an ice storm in Kentucky is not a hurricane in La. but still, thousands of people STILL without power, that’s heat and water. It’s cold here folks.Food is getting scarce in some places and I heard on the radio some places folks are getting water from streams etc.
We not all a bunch of dumb rednecks who have no meaning or matter in this country. Where is the outrage about the lack of action? Where?
Americans are freezing and dying but I guess I’ve missed Anderson Cooper flying to the midwest and crying and Geraldo shouting, “where is the help?” I guess I’ve missed members of the press demonizing President Obama for eating steak and having cocktails with the press while people are freezing and without food.
When a million people in flyover country are suffering, and 42 people have died, we don’t hear much about it. If this was New York, Washington, Boston, (or if the president had an R after his name) you’d see non-stop reports, and the press would be roundly criticizing FEMA’s absence, and the White House’s disregard. Right?
Thousands of people in ice-caked Kentucky awoke in motels and shelters, asked to leave their homes by authorities who said emergency teams in some areas were too strapped to reach everyone in need of food, water and warmth.
…
Dozens of deaths have been reported and many people are pleading for a faster response to the power outages. About 438,000 homes and businesses across Kentucky were without power, down from more than 600,000, the largest outage in state history, and as far away as Oklahoma, around 10,000 customers still had no electricity.The outages disabled water systems in much of the western part of the state, where some in rural areas resorted to dipping buckets in a creek. Authorities warned it could be days or weeks before power was restored in the most remote spots.
…“We’re asking people to pack a suitcase and head south and find a motel if they have the means, because we can’t service everybody in our shelter,” said Crittenden County Judge-Executive Fred Brown, who oversees about 9,000 people, many of whom spent a fifth night sleeping in the town’s elementary school.
Local officials grew angrier at what they said was a lack of help from the state and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. [Emphasis mine - admin]
In Kentucky’s Grayson County, about 80 miles southwest of Louisville, Emergency Management Director Randell Smith said the 25 National Guardsmen who have responded have no chain saws to clear fallen trees.
“We’ve got people out in some areas we haven’t even visited yet,” Smith said. “We don’t even know that they’re alive.”
Smith said FEMA was still a no-show days after the storm. [all emphasis mine - admin]
It sounds pretty damned bad.
Heck of a job, Barry. While you’re staying warm over there, why don’t you send some help to those folks so they can get their heat and their lights back on, their water running and their lives back on track?
FEMA spokeswoman Mary Hudak said some agency workers had begun working Friday in Kentucky and more help was on the way. Hudak said FEMA also has shipped 50 to 100 generators to the state to supply electricity to such facilities as hospitals, nursing homes and water treatment plants.
“We have plenty of folks ready to go, but there are some limitations with roads closed and icy conditions,” she noted.
What? Is she saying that natural disasters impede reaction time? Who would have thought it? At least the state governments are not holding back help! FEMA began working on Friday? But the storm hit on Tuesday! How can that be?
But still, why isn’t the president down there, hugging people? Why was he schmoozing congress with steak dinners* while people were suffering? Why is this going on for almost a week without the president going in there and fixing everything? It’s been way more than 100 hours! Where is Obama? Why does the government not show us what is really going on? Where are the pictures of stranded people? We want to see the pictures! People have died! Show us the bodies!
Hey, I’ve watched the professionals in the mainstream media – I know these are the questions we’re supposed to be asking. They’ll get to them any day, now…any day.
This proves once again that the mainstream media is selective in its coverage, which is driven by its own agenda. What it wants to cover and hype for good or ill gets covered and hyped ad nauseam. And what it does not want to address, gets lost. This is an inconvenient story, with inconvenient victims, so you won’t see the high drama, the probing questions and harsh criticism we’ve seen before.
The press completely controls the conversation of the country, and the direction of each narrative. At least until the “Fairness Doctrine” puts that control more completely into the government’s hands.
The problem is, when the press ignores a story like this, not only are they betraying a credibility-destroying double standard, they’re also keeping other Americans from learning about the situation and offering help – as Americans always do. Booooo, press. Boooooo!
More – but very little coverage:
Over 600,000 still without power
National Guard called “it could be weeks before some areas get power back”
In fairness to President Obama, it is not really the job of the president to personally go in and rescue people after a natural disaster. The province in emergencies is still – as it was with Katrina – local, then state government, then federal intervention with funding and FEMA, etc. But the press and the Democrats didn’t want to hear it with Katrina, where the staggering failures of the local and state governments were ignored so that the Bush-beating could commence. But it seems to me if Bush was crucified for “eating cake” with John McCain and not sending FEMA “fast enough” and not running down to NOLA to get in the way of rescuers for the photo-op, then there is certainly some room to criticize President Obama, who supposedly is having a black-tie dinner tonight with members of the press in the warm, cozy White House while hundreds of thousands have evacuated or are still not even being checked on.
There. Am I not fair? I’d say that’s fairer than anyone treated President Bush. Again, boooo, press!
*Reader Michael points out that President Obama did not schmooze congress with “steak” but with Wagyu steak strips, shown here, and writes:
A Recession, tens of thousands of pink slips in one week, companies filing bankruptcy, banks failing and he serves a victory dinner to a select few consisting of $250 a pound steak and then tongue lashes Wall Street over legally obligated, employee contract negotiated Bonuses???? The press wouldn’t just crucify Bush, they would lead an angry mob of union thugs to rush the White House and drag him and Laura out and hang them.
Well, certainly the press wouldn’t be gushing over it and proclaiming how cool Bush was. I mean, they still complain that President Bush “ate a slice of birthday cake with John McCain” after Katrina hit. Wagyu steak when 600,000 to 1,000,000 are freezing and without heat or power or rescue? Totally different.
AJ: Quotes the Obama White House Website on how it had learned the lessons of Katrina.
Tim Blair: Concerned in Australia. Kentucky’s governor praised President Obama for making a phone call. Remember when Bush called Nagin and a dithering Gov. Blanco days in advance of Katrina declaring a state of emergency ahead of the storm and begging both of them to evacuate NOLA, and asking Blanco to please let the Feds in to take control of the situation – and her refusal? Does anyone remember this stuff? Seems all Bush had to do was make a phone call a few days after the fact and that would have been sufficient, after all!
Ed Driscoll: Obama Dozed, People Froze
Rick Moran: Repeats the Bush script. He’s “making a point” but I really wish people would not go there.
Jawa mentions that Directly after the inaugural, the Obama WH dissed Bush on Katrina
Jimmie Bise recalls The Hounds of the Baskervilles. When they don’t bark, it’s telling.
Welcome: Ldot readers! While you’re here, please look around. Today we’re also talking about the underreported Iraqi elections, which the president and CIC did not bother mentioning in his weekly address, not even to praise his troops. Update: President Obama did acknowledge the Iraqi elections about 3PM this afternoon – vague but positive – but still never mentioned or praised his troops. He needs to remember that.
Related:
Katrina: Brings out Best and Worst
Go ahead, Impeach Bush, Try Him
How very short-sighted we have been. If only we had invested more in windmills and solar panels, they would have power in abundance today! What’s that you say? Windmills freeze up and overcast skies make solar panels useless?
Nonsense. It is the only way. If a few people a uncomfortable so be it. Like Dear Leader says, “We’re going to have to apply some flinty Chicago toughness.”
We must rid ourselves once and for all of this dirty evil coal! And make sure that all of America is a nuclear-free zone! And don’t you even think of drilling for oil and natural gas in those pristine paradises like ANWR!
We now read the Anchoress daily at our home, our website.
And we copy articles and send them to family members.
And we ‘process’ them in our own mind to aid in our own articles, sometimes/often giving credit where it is due.
Thank you for calling this Kentucky ‘flyover’ matter to your readers’ attention.
That kind of double standard is pretty sickening. Thanks for bringing it to everyone’s attention.
Wagyu? No, Wag You! (he says, while scratching his face with his middle finger)
Two big reasons I could think of to not report it come to mind. Neither make the media look good.
(a) Kentucky is too white.
(b) Obama is a Democrat. And also the Messiah Dude.
I’m ready for a very long eight years here.
[The answer is B. This has nothing to do with racism, and I really hate to see people go there - admin]
Please, everybody pray for these poor people, and for the rescuers. … and for their family and friends who are waiting to hear.
I’m in the south end of Louisville, KY. We lost power the first day, but it was restored the next. I won’t lie and say it’s not bad here- certainly, it is, and we’re going to be cleaning up for months. The trees are down everywhere. I know a family whose home had a tree go right through it and render it unlivable.
But I will be surprised if there are tremendous numbers of deaths due to the storm’s aftermath. People hereabouts generally are very neighborly. People with power have been helping people who don’t have it. My street got power before the back half of the neighborhood; consequently, we’ve all got guests right now. People are charging medical devices in the library, and lots of public shelters have been opened up. The federal govt really can’t do much to help at this point; til the thaw comes, we won’t really know the extent of the damage- the trees are still falling. Unless they can miracle us a bazillion men-with-chainsaws, there just isn’t a lot anyone can do right now. The key to getting through something like this is plenty of contact with your neighbors. Check on the older folks especially; they’re the least likely to want to ask for help at a time like this.
I’m less worried about the people in the rural areas. Though I live in the suburbs, I have plenty of relatives out in the surrounding counties. They tend to have contingency plans- woodstoves, a supply of firewood, plenty of stored food, and the like. It’s more the city folks, used to running out at a moment’s notice, who have been up a creek this week.
As I explained endlessly after Katrina, FEMA never does much but pick up sticks and pass out checks. The responder heirarchy is indeed local, county, state, THEN feds.
But hey, sauce for the goose and all that. We do indeed get a chuckle out of the double standard employed by the left and the MSM.
Anchoress, my sister and brother in law have been trapped in their rural home for 5 days. Their cell phone and land line were both out, and the way to the main road was blocked by fallen trees. They have wood and a fireplace, so they had food, water and heat but were still very uncomfortable. The weather was moderating today, and my BIL was planning to get out the chain saw and try to clear the road.
Church last night was full of visitors from surrounding areas where the power is off. They are staying with relatives or in hotels till they can go back home.
We got lucky here where I live – only some moderate icing – and the people here have responded with an outpouring of help to those in surrrounding counties. And FEMA has been a no-show.
The POTUS actually attended the annual Alfalfa Dinner in DC last night so he was dining with the mighty and powerful, but it was at a hotel in DC, not at the White House. A colleague of mine sang for the event, so I’ll be sure to talk to him at work this week about the festivities. I’m still annoyed at Hussein-Obama (it’s OK to use his middle name now that he said it when he took the oath of office?), however, for his cavalier approach to how the DC Metro area needs to “toughen up” when it comes to snow & ice. He hasn’t gotten to know the surrounding areas…parts of my county in MD are not safe for school kids to venture out on when the roads are covered in ice, but the county can’t close just some of the schools. It’s all or nothing, which is why his daughters’ schools (close to the District where there was less of a problem) were closed on Tu & W. If only the POTUS had a big “R” after his name…he would have been berated by the alphabets for partying on Sat. night while hundreds of thousands were left in the dark. Of course, “in the dark” is where the people who put him into office have been for some time.
Ah, the first real taste of how the next four years will be! If the MSM ever rouses itself from its post-coital stupor, I am sure the post-mortems on this event will be fascinating–”Obama Stays Out Of The Way, Let’s Locals Do What They Do Best”. Or perhaps it will be “President Wisely Shepherds FEMA Resources For The ‘Really Big One’”.
It all just confirms what my father hammered into me: Never count on anyone to ever do anything for you in an emergency, least of all government.
My own kids laugh, but we have a room stocked with canned food, my old Boy Scout cookstove, bottled water, cash and ammunition (as well as a tasteful assortment of wine–no need to suffer unnecessarily). When our next disaster hits, I will have sufficient means to care for me and mine. I am confident that we will hear nothing from FEMA, Obama or anyone else above the county sheriff.
And I expect to hear nothing about it in the press.
“The outages disabled water systems in much of the western part of the state”…the dependence of the water system on the electrical system is worrisome..this has the potential to convert unpleasant situations into catastrophes.
I believe that in Britain, some water facilities are driven directly by gas or steam turbines, independent of the electrical grid. Sounds like a very good idea.
My 70 year old mom is living through this in Graves County, KY which is in the western end of the state. After five days she has lights but no heat except for a gas cook stove. She has a working cell phone but no land line. She survives on canned food and water and wearing lots of layers. All I can say is that she is one tough lady. I don’t believe the weather has bothered her at all. To her it is simple. If you are cold, add layers or get under the covers. Boil water when needed. etc. etc. She reminded me that she grew up without electricity, so bad weather was not a big deal. If I have to be in an emergency, I hope she is around because I don’t know half of the survival information that she does.
You missed another more subtle killer effect of the MSM coverup. Ever since 9/11 it has been an established “fact” that whenever the Red Cross spends disaster relief donations on anything other than giving money to the victims of the disaster that just happened, that money was stolen. So training people, holding disaster drills, hiring computer programmers and bookkeepers and auditors to set up systems to disburse money to disaster victims, preparing educational materials for disaster preparedness — all that is “fraud” now.
Which means that if the Red Cross is going to have any money for running shelters and helping people in Kentucky, that money has to be donated right this very minute. It can’t have come from donations that people made after past disasters. If the press doesn’t publicize any one particular disaster, then the Red Cross will have no money to help people in that particular disaster.
Well, I get that it’s a good opportunity to beat up “the other side”
But, I think there are some significant differences in the scope. For one, most people WILL be able to return to their homes- homes and possessions weren’t destroyed, they’re just unable to cook or stay warm without electricity, so they are leaving temporarily. Once the electricity is back on, most people will have their lives return to normal.
The numbers of people effected are also far, far fewer, because of the location. There is a difference when 20 million people lose power vs 600,000. Not that it doesn’t suck just as bad, but far fewer people are effected.
Also-losing power, even for up to a week, isn’t all that abnormal. It happens, especially during the winter.
Now my heart does go out to the people in KY who are cold, and trying to find shelter so they can get access to food and water- it sucks. My heart goes out as well to all of the people trying to rebuild in Iowa and Washington State after the recent flooding there, who are also still suffereing and trying to recover.
[Stephanie, no one is arguing that Katrina was not different in scope. But the fact remains, the press brought out every barrel it had on Bush, when Bush was doing all he could, within the limitations of his own office and the constitution. Nagin and Blanco got passes and Bush got punished. They were demanding miracles and hyping up the drama (it was dramatic enough; they didn't have to) in order to destroy Bush. By contrast, they're not even asking what if anything Obama is doing about a pretty serious natural disaster that has affected over a million and is still affecting some 500,000. The point is the press and their excesses, their agendas and their willingness to underreport rather than hurt their guy. More here. - admin]