Our Government at Work . . .

How good is our government? A local talk radio host, Ed Henley on 700AM radio, was talking about how yesterday, he decided he would make some calls to Washington DC to see if our government was prepared for the storm (not like they didn't have any warning). First he called the HQ for Homeland Security. Guess what! The phone rang for 3 minutes and no one answered (he recorded the calls he made all day long by the way). He called back and someone did answer to tell him no one was there it was closed because of the weather. Homeland Security HQ was down? No phone call forwarding? No answering system in place? No contingency plan for this type of situation? I feel safe now!!!

Then Ed decides to contact FEMA. Ed has a daughter in DC and thought suppose she was snowed in without power. What was she to do? Now FEMA is all in Washington DC, all 3,700. And FEMA is Federal EMERGENCY Management Assistance? Well their offices were closed, they were without power (no backup generators?). His call was forwarded to a switchboard in VA. The switchboard operator said the offices were closed because of the storm and loss of power and all she knew was the governor of Washington DC would have to declare a state of emergency and ask the President for help. What is wrong with this picture?....(hint, what is the state Washington DC is in?). That's right!, they don't have a governor. He is then transferred to the disaster relief group and is told the same. All Washington government offices are closed because of the blizzard. So the government branch responsible for handling disasters and preparedness is incapable of doing their job in DC? But it gets better.

Ed then wonders if all businesses are closed. So he finds a Holiday Inn 3 blocks from the capital building and calls. Guess what! Not only are they open, their restaurant is open and serving full meals. They have a full staff on duty including maid service. And the FEMA folks are staying there!

So in case of Emergency, the government can't function but Holiday Inn does. WOW!

Growing up in DC during the cold war the standard joke there was if the Russians wanted to decapitate the US government, all they had to do was deploy a SNOW BOMB on DC and the wheels of the US government would come to a COMPLETE halt, without any loss of life. Guess things haven't changed much.