The questions were predictably soft and gratuitous. "I'm very happy with FEMA's response," Johnson said in reply to one query from an agency employee. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, much maligned for its sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina over two years ago, arranged to have FEMA employees play the part of independent reporters Tuesday and ask questions of Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the agency’s deputy director. FEMA gave real reporters only 15 minutes notice about Tuesday's news conference . But because there was so little advance notice, the agency made available an 800 number so reporters could call in. And many did, although it was a listen-only arrangement. Talk about controlling the media, hunh?
We criticize our press for the control of information but when the government does it, who can we trust? White House press secretary Dana Perino said it was not appropriate that the questions were posed by agency staffers instead of reporters. FEMA was responsible for the "error in judgment," she said, adding that the White House did not know about it beforehand and did not condone it. "FEMA has issued an apology, saying that they had an error in judgment when they were attempting to get out a lot of information to reporters, who were asking for answers to a variety of questions in regard to the wildfires in California," Perino said. "It's not something I would have condoned. And they — I'm sure — will not do it again." She said the agency was just trying to provide information to the public, through the press, because there were so many questions. I think FEMA actually showed up at a Rave party and got a little high on extasy!
Firefighters are still fighting the wildfires and are mopping up the mess that forced thousands of Californians from their neighborhoods. This week's wind-whipped wildfires had people returning to their homes, some of them finding their property unscathed amid the destruction and others discovering nothing but blackened rubble. "I don't think that there was any mal-intent," Perino said "It was just a bad way to handle it, and they know that." Officials at the Homeland Security Department, which includes FEMA, expressed their concern. "This is simply inexcusable and offensive to the secretary that such a mistake could be made," Homeland Security spokeswoman Laura Keehner said Friday, referring to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff. "Stunts such as this will not be tolerated or repeated." Keehner said senior leadership is considering whether a punishment is necessary.
Considering whether punishment is necessary? Helllloooo! Considering the scope of this disaster, I hope FEMA is investigated and the people in charge, screwing Americans over in need of assistance by a stupid "error in judgement" are sentenced to maximum jail terms. We are supposed to trust and rely as Americans on agencys such as this to help us out in our hours of need. This type of crap just goes to show that when it comes to information, you can't even trust the people in charge. Gosh, I love America!![]()
We criticize our press for the control of information but when the government does it, who can we trust? White House press secretary Dana Perino said it was not appropriate that the questions were posed by agency staffers instead of reporters. FEMA was responsible for the "error in judgment," she said, adding that the White House did not know about it beforehand and did not condone it. "FEMA has issued an apology, saying that they had an error in judgment when they were attempting to get out a lot of information to reporters, who were asking for answers to a variety of questions in regard to the wildfires in California," Perino said. "It's not something I would have condoned. And they — I'm sure — will not do it again." She said the agency was just trying to provide information to the public, through the press, because there were so many questions. I think FEMA actually showed up at a Rave party and got a little high on extasy!
Firefighters are still fighting the wildfires and are mopping up the mess that forced thousands of Californians from their neighborhoods. This week's wind-whipped wildfires had people returning to their homes, some of them finding their property unscathed amid the destruction and others discovering nothing but blackened rubble. "I don't think that there was any mal-intent," Perino said "It was just a bad way to handle it, and they know that." Officials at the Homeland Security Department, which includes FEMA, expressed their concern. "This is simply inexcusable and offensive to the secretary that such a mistake could be made," Homeland Security spokeswoman Laura Keehner said Friday, referring to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff. "Stunts such as this will not be tolerated or repeated." Keehner said senior leadership is considering whether a punishment is necessary.
Considering whether punishment is necessary? Helllloooo! Considering the scope of this disaster, I hope FEMA is investigated and the people in charge, screwing Americans over in need of assistance by a stupid "error in judgement" are sentenced to maximum jail terms. We are supposed to trust and rely as Americans on agencys such as this to help us out in our hours of need. This type of crap just goes to show that when it comes to information, you can't even trust the people in charge. Gosh, I love America!
