Stealing from Peter to pay Paul

The alternate title for this post was "Disaster after Disaster afterDisaster" (The Tornado, after the JohnWarner Defense Authorization Act of 2007 after the war in Iraq)

95% of  Greensburg Kansas has been destroyed according to officialestimates, and most of the emergency equipment is in Iraq. The equipmentconsists of Humvees, front loaders and troop carriers, all used by the NationalGuard when disasters strike. Well we can thank our administration for this, andthe war of his that is now effecting us at home on a different level.

The John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007 gave the president newpowers over the national guard. This means that in a national emergency - whichthe president now has enhanced powers to declare - he can send Michigan'smilitia to enforce a state of emergency that he has declared in Oregon, over theobjections of the state's governor and its citizens.

Step 10. Suspend therule of law. From the Guardian's article "FascistAmerica, in 10 Easy Steps"

Crooks & Liars have 2posts on this issue that are more than worthy of linking to.

KSNat'l Guard Euip in Iraq Hampers Tornado Relief  and Moreon the KS National Guard Equipment problems

Kansas Tornado

Comments

[granny]

"National Guard" : to guard the Nation, right?

It's never been clear to me how we stood by and let our moronic Commander Guy take the National Guard and use it for an internatinal invasion.

But, beyond that - the truth may be that it takes this kind of thing (over and over, again?)to make the point : we cannot take care of ourselves at home when natural disasters occur; much less continue to believe that we are being "protected" against enemy agents, by Homeland Security and all the spy game shenanigans and loss of civil liberties. Quite the contrary. Our resources have been squandered in the pursuit of private, personal ambitions. We have been left out to dry.

Add this to the list of atrocities that the R. leadership is willing to tolerate, for another, and another, and another, month, rather than get a spine!

We must ask: "what are they protecting, if it's not us"? Hmmm

[Chief Editor: Todd]

This was a great post by Tony. This is outrageous, and it is exactly why our current President warned against nation-building when he ran for President in 2000. More so than under Clinton, we are unable to take care of our own because our resources are in foreign countries.

And it's not about big government or small government. It's about effective government. We need to spend our money wisely -- not on no-bid contracts for Carnival Cruise, as we did after Katrina. Rather, let's make sure our money and resources go to getting the job done, not on a war that is ALREADY a failure and will be ended anyway.

[The Mexican]

Great post, Tony. This story makes my stomach turn. President Bush is devastating. May our thoughts be with Greensburg residents and their recovery process.