The Anchoress
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
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