FEMA and JournoLists

The toothless old media is still trying to show it has some bite. Mitt Romney, who has been critical of FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), was peppered at an Ohio campaign stop with questions about his plan for the agency from “JournoLists” types all the while with millions without electricity and their homes underwater.

Romney properly ignored the questions.
FEMA is a policy debate. If FEMA does a good job it should obviously be kept. Right? 
If FEMA doesn’t do a good job and there are more effective protocols of how we handle our emergency responses we should adopt the new system. Right?
What should not be done is to discuss the future of FEMA when FEMA’s administrators should be focused on dealing with Sandy’s aftermath and not have to worry about defending their bureaucracy and jobs. That is commonsense, and anybody who cares about people should understand that. The “JournoLists” don’t.
 

Hurricane Sandy Springfield Photo Essay

Hurricane Sandy Springfield Photo Essay

Hurricane Sandy Springfield Photo Essay 12:38 p.m. Oct. 29, 2012

This serene shot of the creek that runs beneath North Rolling Road in Springfield Pa. was taken at 12:38 p.m., today, Oct. 29. If  the amount rain expected with Hurricane Sandy arrives  there is a good likelihood it will flood closing the road.

Hurricane Sandy Springfield Photo Essay 12:38 p.m. Oct. 29, 2012
Springfield Township, however, is being proactive keeping leaves from clogging the drainage holes as has occurred in the past. Maybe the road will stay open.
Hurricane Sandy Springfield Photo Essay 5:17 p.m. Oct. 29, 2012

Sandy at 5:17 p.m. in Springfield, Pa — about 70 miles west of the storm’s expected 8 p.m. landfall at Atlantic City. The township experienced its first power outage shortly after. It lasted less than a minute.
Hurricane Sandy Springfield Photo Essay 7:53 p.m. Oct. 29, 2012
Sciarrino’s Pizza on Brookside Road, Springfield, Pa. remains open at 7:53 p.m., Oct. 29, which is about the time of Sandy’s landfall on the Jersey Shore.

Hurricane Sandy Springfield Photo Essay 7:55 p.m. Oct. 29, 2012

The empty streets of Springfield at 7:55 p.m., Oct. 29 looking south on Springfield Road towards Brookside Road. The rain had stopped but wind had significantly picked up. On the odd side of Windsor Circle one small tree had been blown over and large branches from another had been blown into the street.

Hurricane Sandy Springfield Photo Essay 10:48 p.m. Oct. 29, 2012

This spruce fell from the Springfield Township traffic island onto the wall at 18 Windsor Circle blocking island’s southern path along with the northern Windsor Circle entrance. It was photographed at 10:46 p.m. It was the second spruce to fall from the island in three months.

Hurricane Sandy Springfield Photo Essay 10:52 p.m. Oct. 29, 2012

Another blurry nighttime view of the fallen spruce. A far greater amount of damaged occurred across the street when a large tree fell from 33 N. Rolling Road onto the roof of 25 N. Rolling Road. Kudos to the Springfield road crews who were cutting up the spruce at 1:25 a.m.

Hurricane Sandy Springfield Photo Essay 9:45 a.m. Oct. 30, 2012

The aftermath: The scene at 33 N. Rolling Road (left) and 25 N. Rolling Road, Springfield, Pa., the morning of Oct. 30. Rain was still falling but the wind had significantly dropped.

Hurricane Sandy Springfield Photo Essay 1:59 p.m. Oct. 30, 2012

Another view of the tree that fell on 25 N. Rolling Road.

Hurricane Sandy Springfield Photo Essay 2:02 p.m. Oct. 30, 2012

Springfield Township workers remove the fallen spruce tree from the Windsor Circle/Rolling Road traffic island about 2 p.m., Oct. 30.

Hurricane Sandy Springfield Photo Essay 1:48 p.m. Oct. 30, 2012

The rain is gone, the high winds are now a light breeze and here is the stream that runs beneath North Rolling Road at 1:48 p.m., Oct. 30.

Hurricane Sandy Springfield Photo Essay

It’s The Corruption, Stupid

Those who question the wisdom or effectiveness of the nation’s various welfare programs usually wind up being called hateful and uncaring by the programs’ defenders. 

There is a reason for that. The programs’ defenders are making a nice living from the money going to them.
The Weekly Standard has reported that the state and federal governments spent $61,194 per household that is in poverty in 2011 on welfare programs. Does each household get $61,194 per year in benefits? One  would be rather shocked to find that to be the case. After all, that would mean there is no poverty in this country as the poverty threshold is $22,350 for a family of four.
So where does the rest of the money go? One strongly suspects it goes into the pockets of those distributing the grants and benefits, who, unstrangely  enough are the most vociferous defenders of these programs.

Big Pa. Lead For GOP In Absentee Ballot Returns

The Republican Party touted figures yesterday, Oct. 29, showing that Republican returned absentee ballots are 18.82 percent ahead of Democrat ones.

The GOP says that 63,717 absentee Republican absentee ballots have been returned so far compared to 42,013 for the Dems.
In 2008, the Republicans, when the smoke cleared, had just 1.92 percent lead in absentee ballots in the state 137,850 to 132, 170.

Veteran Bills Signed Into Law

Gov. Corbett has signed them into law, a package of bills aimed at helping the state’s veterans, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).

House Bill 2428 offers a special designation on Pennsylvania driver’s licenses for veterans who served in any branch of the United States Armed Forces, including reserve units or the National Guard, and who were discharged or released from such service under conditions other than dishonorable. The cost of the regular renewal remains the same, but there’s no additional cost to the veteran for the special designation mark.

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House Bill 2591 brings the State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS) into compliance with the Federal Heroes Earning Assistance and Relief Act of 2008 (HEART) and conforms Pennsylvania law regarding pension credit for military leave for state employees and SERS members with federal law.

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Senate Bill 623 encourages state agencies to contract with veteran-owned small businesses. Under the new law, the Department of General Services has an annual statewide goal of not less than 3 percent participation in statewide contracts entered into by the department with veteran-owned small businesses, and provides training to help veteran-owned businesses learn how to apply for state contracts. The governor signed Senate Bill 623 into law this week.

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Senate Bill 1531 establishes guidelines and funding for the Pennsylvania Veterans’ Trust Fund, which administers grants to the PA Veterans Foundation and other veterans’ and charitable organizations for the purposes of providing benefits to veterans and their families. Revenue for the fund will come from proceeds paid by PennDOT from sales of a special “Honor Our Veterans” license plate and from contributions from a voluntary $3 check-off from driver license and vehicle registration renewals.

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Senate Bill 1255 enacts the Uniform Military and Overseas Voters Act to simplify the process of absentee voting for United States military and overseas civilians in state elections conducted in Pennsylvania.

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 Senate Bill 1442 updates the Pennsylvania Code of Military Justice, which enforces order and discipline upon the Pennsylvania National Guardsmen who are not in active federal service under Title 10 of the United States Code. The code has not been extensively updated since 1975, and many of the current provisions date back to the Military Code of 1949. The law also establishes a State Military Justice Fund to pay expenses incurred in the administration of military justice and funded by fees and other monies paid to the Commonwealth under the Pennsylvania Code of Military Justice.

Historical Tidbit Of The Day

Ulysses Grant’ and his wife, Julia, were invited to join President Lincoln’s party at Ford’s Theater on April 15, 1865. They turned it down and went to Burlington, N.J. instead.

Julia, it was learned, had been stalked by John Wilkes Booth and the Grants were likely targets of assassination as well.