Year: 2006

FEMA to NPRA – Senate Inquiry Recommendations

Getting rid of FEMA is one of the recommendations coming from the Senate inguiry looking into the governments response to Katrina. Abolish FEMA and create a National Preparedness and Response Authority to oversee domestic disaster preparedness training and coordinate government disaster response. FEMA to NPRA? The report will be released soon.

It appears that the new authority would communicate directly with the President during major crises and any large cuts to budget or staffing levels would need Congressional approval. I feel so much better now that the President would be be in direct communication. I would feel much better yet if the inquiry report demanded that the President be held down and forced to pay attention! I am sure that President Bush would insure that the proper Congressional approvals were sought proir to budget cuts.

I smell a wumpus.

Nothing Exciting

Not much going on in my house today. Worked on my Cairo model a bit, played with the dogs, and did some research on the history of the Britannia yacht that I purchased a scale model kit of.

The weather is gettting warmer. This is a good thing and a bad thing. Good because we need the sunshine to cheer us up bad because we do not want all the snow up in the mountains to melt.

I thought about writting a post on Iraq, Iran, global warming, the Delta levee situation, or the numerous topics concerning the present administration. After reading other blogs I came to the conclusion that the topics are all being covered. I can rest well knowing that others are keeping up on it all. I think I will go back to working on my model and then head off to sleep.

Purchased a New Wood Scale Ship Model Kit

Call me crazy but I really like scale wood ship modeling – so far :).

Since I can not get a medical release for work – almost 2 years later – I have resigned myself to the fact that I have lots of time to do either nothing or something. Since forcing myself to do tasks that require fine motor skills is very challenging and frustrating but also seems to help me improve or at least learn new ways of doing things. I also have major mental problems with sequencing now. So, I decided to go for it and purchase a “real” wood model kit. After all they take years to complete and I seem to have the time…

click

I figure if the average completion time for an average person is one to one and half years I will be finished in three years.
I need to rearrange my computer room to add a work area large enough and since my local model shop had the model on sale and I saved $100.00 I can invest in some new gizmo’s for my dremil tool and a work table and maybe a small steamer to shape the wood.

Goal one: I will finish the model no matter how crappy the finished product may be.

Goal two: I will not cut, sand or chop off any of my finger’s in the process.

Bush to California: Drop Dead

President Bush issued a directive that allows the Army Corps of Engineers to take $23 million in California money repair work on critically weak levees. As expected California did not get a federal disaster declaration that the governor wanted (add a few federal tax paying Californian’s also).

We are told by Connaughton it is a down payment on federal monies that somewhere (over the rainbow), sometime, the government will pay triple the amount for the levee projects.

It is a down payment of sorts on federal money, James Connaughton, the president‘s chief environmental adviser said, that will flow to California at some unspecified point in the future, contingent on congressional actionand the administration expects the federal government to pay three times as much as the state for the projects.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles is quoted in news stories as reacting angrily:

“The headline on this story should be: ‘Bush to California: Drop Dead,’ ” Nunez said. “California needs federal money to prevent a Katrina-like emergency, and we need it now.”

January 05, California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) warned in a report entitled Flood Warnings: Responding to California’s Flood Crisis that levee failures during the Central Valley’s annual winter and spring flood season posed a “ticking time bomb for flood management in California.”

California Climate change information March 06
If the federal government does not “get it” soon we might not drop dead but we sure will be floating off into the sunset. Taking our agricultural tax base with us.