Speaking of coffins and caskets (previous post) there was a visitor to Buzzy’s Country Store the other day who had recently retired from FEMA. As he sat and consumed a couple beers, he discussed his work with FEMA in what was a fascinating and somewhat macabre kind of conversation. Talking with him was like reliving many of the disasters that we’ve had over the last couple years.
For instance, remember the Buffalo plane crash in a snow storm a few years back where 50 people were killed? My visitor described how once they (FEMA) arrived on the scene they found that the plane had crashed straight down into someone’s house, and water from busted pipes had frozen into a solid block in the basement around the plane and the dead passengers. He and his FEMA coworkers had to first thaw out the ice water and then pump it out before they could even begin extricating the bodies. How’s that for a nasty ass job?
He of course was in New Orleans for Katrina. (No, he did not personally know “You’re doing a heck of a job Brownie” who got fired after President Bush laid that compliment on him.) But he noted that their job wasn’t an easy one because they were tasked with rounding up bodies and coffins which were floating around New Orleans having been dislodged by the rising waters. For related story (click here.) He said there were literally hundreds of bodies that they couldn’t and were never able to identify who they were. Again, not a job you can enjoy doing too much.
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| From http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/joplin-tornado/ |
I listened politely as my visitor discussed the Joplin, Missouri tornado and several other disasters that he was involved in. Sure seems like there have been a lot of them recently.
In between disasters, I managed to steer the conversation around to “why do we even need FEMA anyway and why not do away with FEMA altogether?” (Click here for debate on this issue.) (Personal disclosure, I don’t care for FEMA much at all because of the stupid flood insurance that they require me to purchase but that’s a whole nother story.)
So why do we need FEMA? My visitor had a good answer by again mentioning a plane crash where there are a couple hundred bodies to deal with and there is no way that the local agencies could manage it. Some federal presence is needed to help in the effort. I also found this discussion which makes some sense:
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| From https://answers.yahoo.com/question |
Bottom line then I’ll concede that maybe FEMA is needed and serves a purpose but that flood insurance is still a ripoff! Re: objects falling from the sky, Fogerty did this tune in his 1969 CCR concert I caught a few weeks ago with Mike Raley. It always makes me think of Jody McCoy who as far as I know never fell off a tractor: