A hurricane is a catastrophe -- we get a day or two notice and then it slams us. We are never certain who is going to get hit. Politicians from both parties begin calling each other as soon as we hear the storm is forming and heading our way and they begin working together.
It is the slow catastrophes that divide us. For instance, we have a huge national debt that get worse and worse by the second. Everyone agrees it is bad and a disaster and is hindering our economy's recovery. Bipartisan solutions? Are you kidding? We can't even get the politicians to stay in Washington and TRY to fix it. They have been campaigning for months -- ignoring the crisis. Campaigning is not the job but they seem to think it is like a paid vacation. Handling the nation's problems is the job. Instead, politicians, on both sides of the aisle, just keep kicking the problem down the road and blaming each other.
Hurricane Sandy (like Katrina and 9/11 and other catastrophes) shows our politicians are CAPABLE of working together. They just won't. That is selfish.
Cross-posted from GretaWire.
Romney in one of the primary "debates" openly displayed his contempt for the federal government response and FEMA in particular. His marbles were rolling for the states, but Governor's Christie's support for FEMA and praise for FEMA AND the President probably threw Mitt for a loop. Now he's backing down, modifying his original comments. Still, it seems that ideology so tightly held in Romney's case couldn't be the solution for such a disaster a Sandy nor the calculated ignoring of Katrina by Bush. The one thread, however, is that the two principle players in these cases, Bush and Romney, were Republican
Yes there are right wing and left wing extremists in Congress on both sides of the aisle who won't compromise, but the one-sided finger pointing you sight of all the fault lying on 'right-wing Republicans' factually does not add it. Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid has drawn more than one line in the sand. It takes two to create a stand-off.
Create term limits, cut salaries and perks and require results and you will begin to see a different result. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. As a nation we are insane.
Insane is putting it mildly.
Greta has verbalized what we all should be saying, our nation IS in crisis, fiscally, and physically. People from coast to coast are hurting. Sandy has left in her path destruction and loss. For a brief moment, drawn people together to to help those in need and work together in unison to resolve the crisis. Then, it is back to business as usual, self-interest.
In this time if crisis we see a fellow citizen in distress we act immediately to help them. We don't debate how to help them, WE SIMPLY HELP. Congress should go back to work in Washington, which is what they get paid our tax dollars to do, and go about the job they were hired to do, find solutions to our nations problems.
They should be required to stay in Washington, until they come to a consensus and take action to fix what ails us. If they miss their kids baseball game, graduation or time with their family, tough. Maybe then they will learn to work together to achieve results instead of rhetoric.
Anyway, Greta, why is it that Bush 2 has not come out to support Romney?
Maybe he is not sure about Romney, because Romney flip flops too much?
Fox News makes a living sowing dissent and actively broadcasting falsehoods in the form of op-ed you pretend to be news. Then when GOP politicians pander to these hordes of the misinformed with a proven record of more obstruction than any time in history, you want to lay the blame solely with them.
You. Must. Be. Joking.
Until there's a very large storm right before elections. Then "they" - meaning Republicans - can work together all of a sudden.
Congressional salaries should be:
1) paid by the state and determined by the state.
2) They should receive a per diem which covers the added expense while they are in Washington DC (funded by federal taxes) or on official and necessary trips. You'll have a hard time explaining to me why the congressman from South Pennsyltuckaho has need of a trip to Switzerland.
3) Should not include payment for any other benefits funded by federal taxes such as insurance or pensions or haircuts or meals or housing.
People need to have power in homes first. Plus, he has encouraged people to come into the city to work, when roads are congested to the point that rescue supplies, equipment, and other life saving material is having trouble reaching people needing it, due to already congested streets.
In the 1965 Denver flood, we were told to not attempt to enter the area for more than a week so that emergency equipment and people could concentrate efforts on the damaged area. We had to have a permit on dash to even enter a particular area. All cities shared their staff. Once they cleared their roads, they went to their neighboring city to clear roads. It was a long time before parks started getting attention.