Higher Priorities

I said this before, no one has blamed Bush for the fires it's the handling of the problem and the fact that over 50% of the people and equipment needed to fight the fires are either not in the country or NOT YET FUNDED! Since when is Malibu in a forest? Annie

Actually, none of this is "according to me" it was reported on the news last evening. I guess whose "fault" it is depends on whose responsibiity you think it is to protect the citizens of this country. The National Guard was always meant to be there in the case of national disasters, or am I mistaken about that? Annie

So who's fault is it that (according to you) the problem isn't being handled properly, equipment isn't here or not even yet funded?

OK, this is not a federal issue so let's get rid of FEMA, give the states the money they need to handle whatever disasters they're prone to according to past damages and expenses and current forecasts adjusted for inflation - the REAL kind of inflation, not the phoney administration figures - make it so the California (or New York, Florida, Louisiana, etc.) National Guards stay in their own state along with their equipment and keep the President in Washington or Crawford instead of having him show up for his photo-ops whenever a disaster does occur. It certainly didn't start becoming a federal issue because Bush is in the White House, it just seemed like past residents did a better job. Annie

"OK, this is not a federal issue so let's get rid of FEMA, give the states the money they need to handle whatever disasters they're prone to" You wont get a bit of arguement from me there annie. I agrea with ou 100% there. As far as the national guard though, even they aren't equipped to fight fires of this magnitude, nor should they be, it is simpl not what they ar there for. the money should go to local and county emergency services. And allow the communities to distribute the funds as it deems best and most effective. the guys on the ground know best what they need. The reaction to this on their part overall has been amazing. they tackled an inferno spanning 600 some plus square miles and to all accounts, they have done an amzing job quelling this. And all without the help of fema or the federal government. All the federal government should do now is write the checks. In all honesty I think the government made a good call in not jumping in and instead letting the state of California handle it without the hinderence of guy in a suit on capitol hill.

No, I'm not hysterical and I'm using my BRAIN; I learned quite a few years ago that we all have only one so we must be quite careful with it...lol Also, I was never afraid to send Marines to fight terorists, which is why I supported going to Afghanistan; the terrorists weren't in Iraq until after we got there. It's the National Guard who are needed now, and what is the actual purpose of the NATIONAL Guard anyway? They knew these fires were likely to happen and they knew they weren't prepared for them and they apparently didn't try to fix their mistake. I haven't heard anyone "blame Bush for the fires". Gee, we sure are defensive, aren't we? Annie

you must think the government is God.. That they can just stop fires because we know they will happen... They happen every year, every decade, every fire season. You cant fly airplanes, put 50% of the national guard in front of raging smoke and fire... even if Hillary was president!! the California Liuetenant Governor and Barbara Boxer are complete dolts for saying those things they said. By the way, the war on terror means we fight terrorists anywhere. We cannot just fight them where you THINK they should be. and if the islamists decided to come to Iraq to fight us in Iraq, because we got rid of a mass-murdering, Stalin-type thug that broke all his agreements from the first war he started and lost, so be it. It aint easy, but the anti-bushies do nothing but oppose whatever decisions Bush makes. Good things and bad things have happened, but in the end, a free Iraq is the only rational choice. Curiously, Iraq is slowly becoming a viable country again, only after 4 and half years of impressive tenacity from US troops and Bush's steadfastness... where is the news reports on that? where will your gratitude be if Iraq becomes a thriving, consensual government that treats its people with respect and dignity? and is an American ally right smack in the middle of the middle east?... will you credit Bush? or a sniveling democrat somewhere. The dems never mentioned anything about victory this whole time... they have been hoping for a surrender for their own poliical benefit. and of course I am defensive, if you arent then you havent been paying attention!!!

Thanks for your excellent points. I, too, am totally fed up with these lies and half-truths yet the conservatives will insist it's the "mainstream media" that's always at fault and not telling the truth! They're not perfect either, not by a long shot but I'd sure be more likely to believe ABC News than Limbaugh or O'Reilly! Or anything or anyone on the Fake News Network! Annie

The equiptment needed to fight the fire is in California and the Commander of the National Guard has called a drill for those units so that when the Governor or Lt Governor(once he is done bashing Bush) decides to activate the guard they will b ready. The problem is that you just can't sent people in to fight a fire that is being driven by 40 to 60 mph winds. The marines at Camp Pendlenton are available and ready but the Fire Fighters are not ready for more people until the winds change. There were some Guard members that were called up that were interviewed on the radio and they were wondering what they were doing because there were so many who were just standing around doing nothing. Some people have even said that the National Guard is called out too much. when they are not needed. It does not do any good to call up a combat unit to rebuild a community. In Nothern Wisconsins several years ago we had a community devistated by a Tornado. There was a Nationa Guard Unit 20 miles away and it was an Engineering Unit. They were not activated and many questions were asked why wasn't the National Guard called out. The unit was a Combat Engerneeing Unit - they blow up things - and not a construction Unit. The community decided to call in a company that specializes in storm clean up and rebuild communities. This company was used to working with Insurance Companies and things went very smoothly. I found out that it all starts at the local level and works it way up. In the case of Katrina the local leadership did not know waht they wanted. Mayor Nagan summed it up best when he told the President givem me the money and I will get things done. As of the last report there was over a billion dollars available to New Orleans as soon as the Mayor told the governemnt how he was going to spend it. If you throw too many people at a problem you suddently make the problem managing the people rather than utilizing the people to solve the problem.

Thanks for the clarification.

Your post just got me thinking. Is it a possibility that part of the reason so many military people in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East are there to keep them off American Soil? I mean, Americans really are suffering under the government, and having small numbers of military here, means that they cannot rise up and protect the citizens who really need it. Just a crazy thought I had lol.

Thank YOU, Hon! I'm a magnet here, alright! Thanks also for making some excellent, AWESOME points! Annie