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23 Sep 2011 07:52

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Politics: House passes shutdown-averting spending bill … with a catch

  • yeah … The House passed a bill preventing a possible government shutdown, and in the process paying for emergency management funding for the recent spate of natural disasters (like the Joplin tornado and Hurricane Irene). As recently as Wednesday, it didn’t look like it would pass. So what happened?
  • … but Well, the bill includes a politically-charged measure removing funding for green energy projects, like the much-maligned Solyndra debacle. It literally seems like they passed it only because House Republicans could score points off of this. As a result, it likely will not pass the Senate in its current form. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Sep 2011 11:05

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Politics: Obama on Irene cleanup: “We are going to meet our federal obligations”

  • As president of the United States I want to make it very clear that we are going to meet our federal obligations because we are one country. When one part of the country gets affected, whether it’s a tornado in Joplin, Missouri or a hurricane that affects that eastern seaboard, then we come together as one country and make sure that everybody gets the help that they need.
  • President Barack Obama • Speaking about the need for federal disaster funding during a visit to Irene-ravaged New Jersey yesterday. This is an issue as a result of some stuff Eric Cantor said last week, suggesting that federal funding of disaster cleanup would only happen by cutting matching funding elsewhere. We like the point The Bergen Record’s Mike Kelly makes about this: “Memo to conservatives: You make good points about the need for America to get serious about government spending. But this is not a John Wayne western, with steel-eyed gunfighters making black-and-white decisions about life and death.” Conservatives are right on a surface level on this — we need to cut spending — but get down to the nitty-gritty and it’s simply not clear-cut. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Sep 2011 15:58

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Politics: Ex-FEMA head Michael Brown rips Hurricane Irene media coverage

  • The guy’s acting like he’s having a hard time standing up, and you see people just strolling along behind him. I thought, what a great contrast. Why didn’t he just stand up and say, ‘We were very lucky’?
  • Former FEMA head Michael “heckuva job Brownie” Brown • Somehow turning media critic after Hurricane Irene (in ripping CNN for their coverage of the storm). Hey, Michael, no offense, but you’re the last person that should talk here. Glad to see that the crisis was weak enough that you can rip the media for the coverage. You and Ray Nagin should probably keep your media commentator cards to yourselves. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Aug 2011 09:57

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U.S.: Hurricane Irene, Joplin tornado run into wall of tightly-funded political reality

  • Any projects that have not come in for approval, we’re not going to be able to fund those as this point. We’re going to postpone those. Our goal is to keep this disruption as short as possible, but it was prudent.
  • FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate • Describing the reasons that FEMA is putting their long-term work to repair Joplin, Mo. on hold, and instead putting that money towards Hurricane Irene. Another issue arising in the Hurricane Irene situation? They might run into yet another wall of House Republican suck. That’s because House Majority Leader Eric Cantor makes no guarantees about funding Irene cleanup unless there are budget cuts to match, which is a real jerk move which shows how out-of-touch with reality that the GOP is. Now, granted, Ron Paul pitches ideas like these all the time. But when the GOP leadership continues to do so without regard to the current situation at hand, it makes you you want to vote all the bums out en masse next year. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Aug 2011 22:42

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Politics: Piers Morgan nails the “Hurricane Irene Overhyped” meme to the wall

  • How many have to be killed for you to assess this as serious enough?
  • Piers Morgan • During a suitably dramatic debate on whether the media overhyped coverage of Hurricane Irene. Morgan and a couple of his fellow guests — New York Times super-reporter Brian Stelter and meteorologist Chad Meyers — ripped into the Washington Times’ Joseph Curl, who claimed that the storm was in fact overhyped. Curl was against a stacked jury: Stelter (who is on Tumblr) had just gotten back from North Carolina, Meyers is a meteorologist and Morgan is a sucker for passionate quotes. The overhyped argument loses again in the media sphere. Now, let’s go talk about getting some donations to people who need it. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Aug 2011 10:34

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U.S.: Post-Katrina general: Changing attitudes at play with Hurricane Irene

  • Before Katrina, it was a longstanding tradition in our country for political officials to wait until the last minute to warn, to take action, to evacuate. No more. With Irene, you had mass evacuations — mandatory ones — issued days ahead of time. That was the right thing to do.
  • Retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honore • Regarding the changing approach to hurricanes since Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall in Louisiana six years ago today. Honore was one of the officials whose work on the recovery from that storm was widely respected. To put his point another way: “I’ve been in the storm business for years and I’ve never seen officials be prudent enough to cancel commercial and sporting events before a storm. Folks in the Northeast did that. The day before Katrina, we had a football game in Baton Rouge. That’s how far the community has come.” So there you have it: The guy who coordinated much of the the Katrina response says they did the right thing on Irene. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Aug 2011 10:21

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U.S.: Commuters in NYC slowly getting back to normal after Irene

  • positive All of New York City’s subway routes are moving along without much trouble. While service was supposed to be lighter than usual, many riders said they didn’t notice any significant delays.
  • negative However, if you’re commuting from outside the city — especially Connecticut or New Jersey, you’re out of luck. All lines of the Metro-North Railroad are down, as are New Jersey Transit trains. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

29 Aug 2011 01:30

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U.S.: Irene’s remnants catch Vermont off-guard, cause heavy flooding

  • Our emergency management people are flat-out trying as hard as they can to avoid loss of life. We have been encouraging any Vermonter who lives near a brook, river or lake should head to higher ground.
  • Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin • Offering a message to people in his state affected by the now-former tropical storm Irene, which is really now just a giant storm that’s dropping a ton of rain on Shumlin’s state. And the state wasn’t expecting it: According to Shumlin, officials expected the storm to nail the Connecticut River Valley, but the storm track changed and now it’s over Vermont. Some locals have called it the worst flooding the region has seen in a generation. So yeah, Irene’s nothing to screw with even though she’s no longer a tropical storm. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Aug 2011 20:25

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U.S.: Hurricane Irene’s costs — both in human and monetary form

  • 19 deaths reported so far from Hurricane Irene source
  • » And damages in “the tens of billions”: With the storm largely past U.S. shores, now begins the tallying of damages. You’ve seen some examples of this already. But while it’s too soon to predict exactly what the final tally will be, in New Jersey, Chris Christie is already throwing a price tag on things. “I’ve got to imagine that the damage estimates are going to be in the billions of dollars, if not in the tens of billions of dollars,” he told “Meet the Press” this morning. These costs will largely be eaten by the federal government. The loss of human life, however, won’t be. Click the source link above. It’s a blow by blow of saddening proportions.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Aug 2011 10:51

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U.S.: Hurricane Irene: It’s not all good news, but things are looking up

  • good Hurricane Irene is no longer a hurricane, but a tropical storm. It’s also passed by most of NYC, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia and DC. It’s mostly on land at this point and is moving much quicker than it was yesterday, so it will lose strength quickly. Whew, guys.
  • bad However, it left some bad stuff in its wake — flooding, millions without power, 11 deaths in four different states, and lots of small inconveniences that built up into one pretty big one. In the end, though, it’s less bad than it could’ve been. Fortunately. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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