October 29, 2007
Chuka Vista, California
Photographer states :: Sara ve su casa quemada...una amiga de chula vista visita lo que fue su casa.
If the wildfires occurred to me? I'd be on vacation, too. Who can cope? I mean really. Home one day with all the comforts a life's work can afford and homeless the next.
1) If the state fire safety rules -- requiring that state-trained "spotters" be aboard -- that kept military helicopters from going up early last week were so crucial, then why did state officials later essentially agree to waive them? In a phone interview Friday, top state officials defended the decision-making seen last Monday with great passion. They can't reconcile that with the decision 36 hours or so later to back down. It was, is and will always be incredible that the question of "spotters" wasn't resolved before San Diego County's encore nightmare.
2) The congressmen who are doing such a good job exposing the state's bureaucratic tomfoolery in its wildfire response have some explaining to do themselves. Couldn't they have spared an earmark to cover the cost of outfitting the California Air National Guard's C-130 with a fire-retardant tank, something that was promised to happen after the 2003 wildfires but never did?
Instead, Duncan Hunter funneled $63 million ...
2) The congressmen who are doing such a good job exposing the state's bureaucratic tomfoolery in its wildfire response have some explaining to do themselves. Couldn't they have spared an earmark to cover the cost of outfitting the California Air National Guard's C-130 with a fire-retardant tank, something that was promised to happen after the 2003 wildfires but never did?
Instead, Duncan Hunter funneled $63 million ...
This is what CORRUPTION does. The misdirection of public monies for the favor of a crony provides REAL damage in the REAL world. The political world of the Republicans needs to be abandoned because it isn't NEED based, it's crony based. The country suffers at the hand of politics. The electorate has to focus on candidates the speak to the issues with real solutions, not theory, not beliefs, but, real solutions to real problems. GET RID OF THESE REPUBLICAN BOZOS. They don't know what reality is !
...Hunter has received $36,000 in campaign contributions from Anthony duPont, president of duPont Aerospace, the company developing the plane at a facility in El Cajon.
The cutoff of funds might be the death knell for the project, duPont said.
But Hunter remains optimistic.
“Congressman Hunter continues to support the program, and DP-2 funding could very well be revisited in the next budget cycle,” said spokesman Joe Kasper.
Hunter had sought $6 million for the project next year.
The cutoff of funds might be the death knell for the project, duPont said.
But Hunter remains optimistic.
“Congressman Hunter continues to support the program, and DP-2 funding could very well be revisited in the next budget cycle,” said spokesman Joe Kasper.
Hunter had sought $6 million for the project next year.
...into the DP-2 Vectored Thrust Aircraft boondoggle. And Dana Rohrabacher worried more about buying expensive planes the military didn't want than about helping California's wildfire-fighting capacity. This is from a May story in the Washington Post:
... Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) has made one of the biggest earmark requests in the new Congress, seeking $2.4 billion to build 10 more C-17 planes -- which the Pentagon has said it does not need.
Do know how much 'Alternative Energy' infrastructure $2.4 billion would buy? A lot. The new jobs it would create? Get rid of these people.
I know a lot of people are selling it as hard as they can, but don't buy the narrative that last week saw a perfect synergy of local, state and federal officials and resources. It's not true, not by a long shot.Posted by Chris Reed at October 29, 2007 09:19 AM
