Trailers, Trailers, Everywhere
I am disturbed, though not in the usual and expected way. I saw something in the news that I am beside myself to understand. Apparently there is a Senator that shares my outrage. Although Senator Reid wields far more power than me, even he can't dislodge the bureaucratic logjam over which FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security preside.There are trailers stored in a field in Arkansas, staged for disaster relief. They were apparently moved there for assisting Katrina victims, many of whom still live in tents these many month's after the storm has passed. The trailers cannot be used because there is a federal regulation against allowing the trailers to be moved to a flood zone. So they sit there empty and useless for the purpose that the government spent good money to have them fulfill.
I know that the government has a habit of doing silly things. It is not a thing that is peculiar to this generation or even Democratic or Republican administrations. It is indemic of governments in general and often the source of a good deal of humorous, annecdotal commentary. The real issue here is that people are suffering and still suffering needlessly while their elected official strangle themselves with their own red tape and regulations.
You may call me a Liberatarian for pointing this out but be that as it may, I have to say something that to each and every one of us that is not in the government and not sworn to uphold the sometimes stupid and narrowly focussed regulations of the various departments that manage things with some modicum of efficiency under normal circumstances, that Katrina was a catastrophic event. Catatrophies usually allow for some otherwise well intended rules to be bent while others are ignored and even sometimes broken.
WHY ARE PEOPLE IN TENTS AND TRAILERS INTENDED FOR THEM GIFT WRAPPED IN RED TAPE SOMEWHERE IN ARKANSAS?
Can SOMEONE in WASHINGTON DC grow some pubes and make an adult-like decision, a decision that I think anyone else in this country would fully understand and even condone?
Either move the people from Katrina to non-flood zones so that they can reside int he trailers in full compliance of the regulations governin g their use or waive the regulatory restrictions under some emergency override to a regulation and move the trailers into the areas where they are most needed.
Just a suggestion. I for one want my already spent tax dollars hard at work instead of hardly at work.
posted by Unknown @ 10:26 AM
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